Atlas Dwyer ’24 | Contributing Writer
On Nov. 12, members of associate professor of biology Laura Sirot’s “Natural History of Invertebrates” class came together to open their new class exhibition, “Invertebrates in a Changing World,” presenting their research on how various invertebrates are adapting to anthropogenic climate changes. This exhibit was presented in The College of Wooster Art Museum (CWAM).
The exhibits were spread throughout the lobby and the second floor balcony of the Ebert Art Center, covering topics ranging from the effects of pollution on invertebrates to specific creatures like mussels and cockroaches.
Aubrey Davis ’25 and Emma Glasson ’25 provided a breakdown of their research, “Shedding Light on Lepidoptera: Vision and Light Pollution,” for a wider audience. “Lepidoptera are butterflies and moths. Our case chose to focus on this specifically because [light] is a more invisible form of pollution,” said Glasson. “It not only affects our moths and butterflies, but multiple other insects as well. We chose butterflies because we had a beautiful collection — dating decades back — and wanted to bring them to light.”
According to Davis and Glasson, light pollution has significant negative effects on butterflies and moths.. “When these areas are washed out by bright light at night, [Lepidoptera] can no longer orient themselves within the space,” said Davis. “[Butterflies and moths] heavily rely on their vision for activities like foraging, mating and migrating… artificial light at night increases the length of their perceived daytime, so diurnal butterflies are expending excess energy and putting themselves at greater risk of being attacked by predators.”
Pollution and human impacts on the environment was a common theme among the projects. Student Lilian Martin ‘26 said, “I think a major takeaway from not only our case but our exhibit as a whole, is even though we cannot change large scale contributors to pollution, we can make small individualistic choices everyday.”
The initiative to turn students’ research projects into exhibits is not new for Sirot, wanting to create the space for more creative and passionate projects. For the past few years, Sirot has partnered with CWAM to bring her students’ research to a broader audience. She has been refining her technique since the first year it was completed — now, she has the process of turning a vague idea into an exhibit down to a science.
“The idea for this project started three years ago, when I [last] taught invertebrate natural history [the last time it was natural history for the vertebrates],” Sirot said. “I wanted to open up the options for my students of how they could demonstrate their understanding of the course material and the course skills. I was really excited about that because we have all these invertebrates in a collection that’s behind locked doors that people won’t get to see, and I really want them to be able to see and incorporate them into these exhibits.”
Her class first looked at specimens from campus, then began to explore more specialized areas of invertebrate science under her guidance. After each student completed an outlined storyboard and practiced a short speech on their topic, they worked with members of the museum to create labels for dioramas, design physical models of their individual exhibits and launch them together to complete the class project.
Many students responded positively to the exhibit and their experience in the course. “I loved everything about it: the class, the exhibit,” student Lain Patton ’26 said. “I know that everyone in the class put their blood, sweat and tears into their research and I’m extremely happy about how all the exhibits turned out.”
The College of Wooster Art Museum (CWAM) also eagerly welcomed the class’s contributions to the exhibit. “Both our exhibitions this semester are from artists who are reflecting on how humans are impacting the environment,” said CWAM director Marianne Wardle. “I think this installation carries that idea one more way. [The class’ installation] is going to help reinforce that the museum is a learning lab … .We’re also a resource that people can use to reinforce the messages being taught in their class, whether creating an exhibition or participating in some other way.”
“Invertebrates in a Changing World” is on display until the end of the Fall 2024 semester.
