John C. Abbott

Dr. John Abbott is the Chief Curator and Director of Research and Collections for the University of Alabama Museums. He grew up in Texas, falling in love at an early age with insects and natural history in general. John’s research career has focused around many aspects of entomology from the behavior of stoneflies to the conservation of endangered beetles, but his primary focus has been on the systematics, biogeography and conservation of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata). He has incorporated citizen science and crowd-sourcing initiatives as a way to help collect data on a variety of odonate topics from presence/absence of species to trying to unravel the mysteries of dragonfly migration. Current projects include the conservation of two rare southeastern dragonflies using population genetics and a global geneology of Odonates (GEODE-dragonfly.net). He has written several books including Common Insects of Texas and a Field to the Insects of North America. John serves as Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Odonatology and Associate Editor for Odonatologica. He enjoys engaging with others about nature and the topics in science that excite him. He and his wife are nature photographers and teach workshops (AbbottNaturePhotography.com).