biology

Laura Sullivan-Beckers

Laura Sullivan-Beckers is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Laura Sullivan-Beckers rather than just read about it. In short: Laura Sullivan-Beckers is an associate professor of evolutionary biology at Murray State University. She is credited with the discovery of Hebetica sylviae, a species of treehopper, named for her daughter Sylvie Beckers.

Key takeaways

Laura Sullivan-Beckers belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Laura Sullivan-Beckers to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Laura Sullivan-Beckers from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Laura Sullivan-Beckers is an associate professor of evolutionary biology at Murray State University. She is credited with the discovery of Hebetica sylviae, a species of treehopper, named for her daughter Sylvie Beckers.

Early life and education Originally studying human forms of communication and earning a bachelor's in Spanish from the University of Tulsa, Sullivan-Beckers became fascinated with the ways birds communicate, and went back to school almost immediately, graduating from Northeastern State University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She then pursued a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Missouri, publishing her doctoral research and graduating in 2008.

Discovery of Hebetica sylviae In the summer of 2016, Sullivan-Beckers asked her 2-year-old daughter Sylvie to water some seeds she had just planted in the backyard of their home. Sylvie overwatered the soil, and small, bright green treehoppers began to float to the top. Sullivan-Beckers noted the oddity of tree-dwelling insects to be dead and buried in the ground. She soon began collecting samples from her backyard, including 72 of the new species, and sent them to Dr. Stuart McKamey, a collaborative researcher at the USDA. “As soon as it was confirmed as a new species, I knew I wanted it named after Sylvie. She was at the heart of the discovery, and it’s not every day a mother gets the chance to name a species after her child,” she said. The species is a variety of treehopper from the Darninae tribe. Sullivan-Beckers co-authored an illustrated description of the insects with Stuart H. McKamey which was presented at Entomological Society of Washington.

Other research Sullivan-Beckers continues to study wolf spider communication habits at Murray State, and teaches undergraduate courses in human anatomy, zoology, and ornithology. Additionally, Sullivan-Beckers has published a number of papers and book chapters on evolution and sexual selection in publications such as Evolution, Biometrics, Current Zoology, and Animal Behaviour.

Works "Mate Choice and Learning". Encyclopedia of Animal Behaviour. Elsevier. 2010 "Female Preference Functions Provide a Window Into Cognition, the Evolution of Communication, and Speciation in Plant-Feeding Insects". The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Evolutionary Psychology. OUP. 2012 Sullivan-Beckers, Laura; Hebets, Eileen (2014-05-01). "Tactical adjustment of signaling leads to increased mating success and survival". Eileen Hebets Publications.

References

External links Sullivan-Beckers Lab website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Laura Sullivan-Beckers

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Laura Sullivan-Beckers claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Laura Sullivan-Beckers before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Laura Sullivan-Beckers ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Laura Sullivan-Beckers

In research: Laura Sullivan-Beckers appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Laura Sullivan-Beckers in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Laura Sullivan-Beckers is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American women, American evolutionary biologists, American women academics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Laura Sullivan-Beckers outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Laura Sullivan-Beckers” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Laura Sullivan-Beckers in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Laura Sullivan-Beckers means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Laura Sullivan-Beckers out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Laura Sullivan-Beckers in simple terms?

Why does Laura Sullivan-Beckers matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Laura Sullivan-Beckers?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Laura Sullivan-Beckers.