Elizabeth G. Postema, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher, Field Museum
Insects are among the most diverse organisms on earth. As a researcher, I study the conflicting pressures that produce and maintain diversity in insect coloration and behavior - and how these traits shift in response to changing climatic conditions.
I create computer vision (AI) tools to extract traits from thousands of images of specimens, and use these data for large phylogenetic comparative analyses. I also conduct experiments in the field (using both live and artificial insects) to test hypotheses about the ecology and evolution of defensive adaptations.
Research
Insect Antipredator Strategies
I am fascinated by the many strategies insects use to avoid predation, from camouflage to shelter-building. These strategies are shaped by various, and often conflicting, selection pressures. I want to understand when, why, and to what degree these pressures influence insect phenotypic diversity. I am also interested in the ways that insects can resolve tradeoffs between selection pressures through adaptive behaviors, such as environmental modification.
AI-Powered Specimen Phenotyping
Insect collections are a treasure trove of biological data. The scale of these collections, however, is as much a challenge as it is an opportunity. At the Field Museum, I led the development of DrawerDissect: a python & AI-based workflow to photograph and extract data from thousands of insect specimens at a time. With this and other AI-based pipelines, I investigate the ecology and evolution of insect phenotypic traits - within and across species.
Climate Change and Insects
For ectotherms like insects, temperature plays an important role in development, survival, and fitness. I am interested in how phenotypic diversity may be constrained by temperature and other abiotic pressures, such as moisture level - and how these dynamics may shift under new climate regimes. To investigate these questions, I use data from historical collections, laboratory-reared insects, and artificial warming experiments in the field.
Featured Video
Timelapse of a spicebush swallowtail, Papilio troilus creating a leaf roll on sassafras, Sassafras albidum.
Art & Outreach
Publications
In Review
Postema, E.G., Briscoe, L., Harder, C., Hancock, G.R.A., Guarnieri, L.D., Eisel, T., Welch, K., Fisher, N., Johnson, C., Souza, D., Sepulveda, T., Phillip, D., Baquiran, R., de Medeiros, B.A.S. (2025). DrawerDissect: Whole-drawer insect imaging, segmentation, and trait extraction using AI.
View Pre-print →Krell, R., Siebert, M., Bessin, R., Gerken, A., Postema, E.G., Pavlic, T., Riddick, E.W., & Zilnik, G. (2025). Perspectives on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Entomology.
Peer-Reviewed
Yang, L.H., Postema, E.G., Arefaine, H., Cohoon, F.Y., Deen, E.A., Durand, Y.L., Erdosh, G.I., Ma, H., Mausling, C.N., Solis, S., Wilson, M.R. (2025). Live fast, die young? Day- and night-warming affects the growth, survivorship and behavior of caterpillars in the field. Ecology.
Read Article →Postema, E.G. (2024). Eyespot peek-a-boo: Leaf rolls enhance the antipredator effect of insect eyespots. Journal of Animal Ecology.
Read Article →Postema, E.G., Lippey, M.K., Armstrong-Ingram, T. (2022). Tackling complexity in animal color research: a response to comments on Postema et al. Behavioral Ecology.
Read Article →Postema, E.G., Lippey, M.K., Armstrong-Ingram, T. (2022). Color under pressure: how multiple factors shape defensive coloration. Behavioral Ecology.
Read Article →Postema, E.G. (2021). The effectiveness of eyespots and masquerade in protecting artificial prey across ontogenetic and seasonal shifts. Current Zoology.
Read Article →Yang, L.H., Postema, E.G., Hayes, T., Lippey, M.K., MacArthur, D. (2021). The complexity of global change and its effects on insects. Current Opinion in Insect Science.
Read Article →