Could New Zealand snails hold the secret to why some creatures rely on sexual reproduction while others don’t?

Maurine Neiman, University of Iowa assistant professor of biology, will answer that question and discuss what she and the colleagues in her lab have learned from studying snails in her talk, “Sex in Nature (And Especially in New Zealand),” which will be presented at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 8, in the Biosphere Discovery Hub at the UI Museum of Natural History. The free public lecture is the final UI Explorers Seminar of the 2013-2014 season. The program will resume in the fall.

Neiman received her bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and her doctorate from Indiana University in 2004. She is interested in using comparisons of sexual and asexual individuals, lineages and genomes to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of sexuality and why sex reproduction persists in some natural populations but not others.

The Department of Biology is a unit of the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

For more information on the UI Museum of Natural History and the Explorers Seminar Series, email uimnh@uiowa.edu or call 319-335-0606.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact the Pentacrest Museums in advance at 319-335-2010.