Ep 57: Georgia O'Keeffe and the Red Queen: Ecosystem services via coevolution (with Rob Raguso)

What is coevolution? How has coevolution between plants and insects shaped human culture and history?

On this episode of Big Biology we talk with Rob Raguso, a professor at Cornell University, who studies insect-plant interactions. Rob discusses his work on diffuse coevolution between night blooming flowers and their long-tongued hawk moth pollinators, and how his and others’ ideas leading to geographic mosaic theory has helped us understand the evolution of novel traits. Rob says that plant-pollinator coevolution has had a huge and varied impact on human life and culture, well beyond its obvious effects on our agriculture. Coevolution between plants and their pollinators shaped our trade, our religious practices, and even the contents of our liquor cabinets.

Cover photo by Rob Raguso