Natural History of Rapa Nui and its Enigmatic Spider

About the talk:
Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, is the most remote island on the planet. It is the home of one of the most fascinating cultures in the Pacific. While the island witnessed the development of this civilization, it also experienced what has been considered as an ecological collapse. Learn about the human and natural history of Rapa Nui; from geology to climate, including reconstructions of the pre-human environment and how people interacted with the land. Get to know the only one endemic spider (Tetragnatha paschae) for this island and learn how old museum specimens and methods of studying ancient DNA can help to discover the origin of colonization of this animal. Did it come from South America or Asia? This simple question is key to understanding how the biological community of the most isolated place on the planet was assembled.