Mark Hunter received his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Oxford. He joined the University of Michigan faculty in January 2006. He has published over 140 research articles and six books on ecology and environmental
change. He has received both a CAREER Award and an OPUS award from the National Science Foundation and, in 2014, was elected a lifetime Fellow of the Ecological Society of America.

Humans have a long history of using plants as sources of medicines. Less well known is how many other animals also exploit plants as a source of pharmaceuticals. This talk describes the phenomenon of self-medication by animals, with a specific focus on monarch butterflies. Monarchs use
toxins in plants to protect themselves from disease. Studying animal self-medication may inform drug discovery and help mitigate the evolution of antibiotic resistance.

This is the ninth in a series of ten lectures held on the second Tuesday of each month. The next lecture will be held June 12, 2017. The title is The Vanishing American Corporation: Navigating the Hazards of a New Economy