Life Ascending: Extreme Animals and Scientific Exploration in the High Andes
Join The Explorers Club on November 16th for a glimpse at cutting edge biological field research taking place in the high extremes of the Central Andes Mountains.
Since 2020, Jay Storz and his South American collaborators have been conducting extreme high-elevation zoological surveys in the Central Andes to discover the environmental limits of animal life. The field work involves a combination of mountain climbing and live-trapping surveys of small mammals in the Puna de Atacama and other remote regions of the Andes that are largely unexplored by biologists. These surveys have yielded new world records for multiple species of mice living on or near the summits of >6000 m (>20,000’) volcanoes. Such elevations were previously thought to be completely uninhabitable by mammals. In conjunction with collaborators in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, Storz’s ongoing research is yielding discoveries about evolved mechanisms of physiological adaptation that enable these animals to survive and function in exceedingly hostile environments.
This in-person event at the Explorers Club Headquarters will include an audience Q&A.
RESERVATIONS
This will be an in-person lecture at Explorers Club Headquarters.
In-person tickets are $20 for Members, and $35 for the General Public.
Check-in will begin at 6:00 pm, with a beer and wine reception from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Jay Storz
Jay Storz is an evolutionary biologist and mountain climber based at the University of Nebraska, where he is the Willa Cather Professor of Biology. Dr. Storz’s research centers on questions about physiological mechanisms of adaptation to extreme environments. In particular, a main goal of his research is to discover how high-elevation animals have evolved to survive and function in low-oxygen conditions. Dr. Storz organizes and leads mountaineering expeditions in the Andes of South America to survey the elevational limits of animal life, and he coordinates a large network of collaborators at research institutes in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and National Geographic Explorer.
