Sergios-Orestis Kolokotronis
PhD candidate, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B), Columbia University
Sergios-Orestis holds a B.Sc. Hons. (Maîtrise) in
Biology of Populations & Ecosystems from
Université Paris-Sud XI (Orsay, France) and an
earlier diploma in Biological & Natural Sciences
from Université Montpellier II (Montpellier, France).
As an undergraduate student, he did internships in
mammalian
phylogenetics, cancer molecular
biology, Drosophila population
genetics, cancer
biochemistry, plant evolutionary
ecology, and sea turtle population
genetics. Sergios-Orestis is working for his
dissertation on the evolutionary genetics of African
forest elephants. Side projects include pronghorn
phylogeorgaphy, molecular evolution of the insect
odorant system, mammalian paleogenetics, molecular
demography, MHC diversity in ruminants.
Sergios-Orestis is also our SiteMaster. See his
webpages on links
to evolutionary genetics programs, his blog, and the AMNH
Molecular
Evolution Discussion Group.
Kolokotronis S-O, MacPhee RDE, Greenwood AD. 2007. Detection of mitochondrial insertions in the nucleus (NuMts) of Pleistocene and modern muskoxen. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7, 67.
Amor DC, Kolokotronis S-O, Medellín RA, Ramey Jr R, Ryder OA. 2006. Genética de la conservación. pp 27-33, In: El Berrendo en México: Acciones de conservación. [The Pronghorn in Mexico: Conservation Actions]. Valdes M, de la Cruz E, Peters E, Pallares E, Editors. Agrupación Sierra Madre - Instituto Nacional de Ecología (INE-SEMARNAT), México.
Shykoff JA, Kolokotronis S-O, Collin CL, López-Villavicencio M. 2003. Effects of male sterility on reproductive traits in gynodioecious plants: A meta-analysis. Oecologia 135(1), 1-9.
Jacqueline Ay-Ling Loo
PhD student, Dept. of Biology, New York University
Jacquie's doctoral research integrates molecular
analyses at multiple marker systems, with life
history data collected from humpback whale
populations on the South Atlantic and Southwestern
Indian Oceans to address questions regarding
population structuring. Essentially, she is
evaluating the extent to which dispersal, ranging
from seasonal migrations to local movements,
influences genetic patterns at temporal and
hierarchical geographical scales.
Soto AM, Loo J, and Marky LA. 2002. Energetic contributions for the formation of TAT/TAT, TAT/CGC+, and CGC+/ CGC+ base triplet stacks. Journal of the American Chemical Society 124, 14355-14363.
Martin Mendez
PhD student, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B), Columbia University
Martin Mendez received his Licenciatura en Ciencias
Biologicas, at the University of Buenos Aires,
completing his graduating research on population
genetics of yellow anacondas in northern Argentina.
He became part of Fundacion Aquamarina, a local NGO
focusing on marine conservation, and has been ever
since strongly involved with cetacean conservation
in coastal Buenos Aires and in Patagonia. With the
Aquamarina team, Martin applied genetic tools to
the conservation of Franciscana dolphins, an
endangered species endemic to the western South
Atlantic. Martin is currently a Wildlife Trust
graduate fellow at the Ecology & Evolutionary
Biology Doctoral Program at Columbia University,
and part of the Cetacean Conservation and Research
Program at WCS and AMNH. His research focuses on
the population genetics and demographics of coastal
cetaceans in Argentina, West Africa, Madagascar and
Oman. His main interests are the development of
appropriate tools to uncover population boundaries
in cetaceans and to characterize key demographic
processes influencing their survival, in order to
apply that knowledge to management of marine
protected areas and species conservation. Other
research topics include conservation genetics of
yellow anacondas, and the interface between
population biology and population genetics.
Mendez M, Rosenbaum H, Bordino P. 2007. Conservation genetics of the franciscana dolphin in Northern argentina: population structure, by-catch impacts, and management implications. Conservation Genetics in press
Mendez M, Waller T, Micucci P, Alvarenga E, and Morales JC. 2005. Genetic population structure of the yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus) in Northern Argentina: management implications. pp 405-415, In: Biology of the Boas and Pythons. Henderson RW, Powell R, Editors. Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC.
Waller T, Parera A, Giraudio A, Aprile G, Bortoluzzi A, Uhart M, Solís G, and Mendez, M. 2004. Fauna del Iberá: Composición, estado de conservación y propuestas de manejo. Fundación Biodiversidad, GEF/PNUD ARG02/G35 project. Asociación Civil Ecos Corrientes – PNUD y Gobierno de la Provincia de Corrientes.
Bordino P, Kraus S, Albareda D, Fazio A, Palmerio A, Mendez M, and Botta S. 2002. Reducing incidental mortality of Franciscana dolphin Pontoporia blainvillei with acoustic warning devices attached to fishing nets. Marine Mammal Science 18(4), 833-842.
Kari L. Schmidt
PhD student, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B), Columbia University
Kari was born and raised in rural Iowa. She
completed her undergraduate education at St. Olaf
College, earning a B.A. in both Biology and
Sociology/Anthropology. After graduating in 2001,
she worked as a research assistant in the
Microbiology Department at the University of Iowa.
She spent the summer of 2004 at Omaha's Henry
Doorly Zoo, where she was an intern in animal
husbandry and worked as a laboratory technician in
the zoo's Genetics Department. Kari is currently a
PhD student at Columbia University. She also
participates in the Species Survival Plan (SSP) for
Western lowland gorillas.
Kari's research interests include the identification of conservation units, the genetic effects of fragmentation, and the interface between in situ and ex situ conservation efforts. She has become increasingly interested in Neotropical parrots and is conducting research with both thick-billed parrots and scarlet macaws. Her work addresses questions that range from the identification of phylogeographic patterns across a species' range to population-level studies to assess the genetic variation of small fragmented populations or help maximize captive-breeding programs. The goal of her research is to provide detailed genetic information to enhance current conservation efforts and provide context for possible future metapopulations management.
Kari's research interests include the identification of conservation units, the genetic effects of fragmentation, and the interface between in situ and ex situ conservation efforts. She has become increasingly interested in Neotropical parrots and is conducting research with both thick-billed parrots and scarlet macaws. Her work addresses questions that range from the identification of phylogeographic patterns across a species' range to population-level studies to assess the genetic variation of small fragmented populations or help maximize captive-breeding programs. The goal of her research is to provide detailed genetic information to enhance current conservation efforts and provide context for possible future metapopulations management.
Craig J. Starger
PhD candidate, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B), Columbia University
Craig is interested in population genetics and its
application to coral reef ecology and conservation.
He is developping microsatellite DNA markers to
establish a baseline for the genetic diversity of
three species of reef-building corals in Indonesia.
These data will be used to uncover possible
barriers to larval dispersal in various parts of
the Indonesian Archipelago. Craig is also involved
in projects addressing the recovery of genetic
diversity on the volcanic islands of Krakatau in
the Sunda Strait and the seascape genetics of
marine protected area networks in West Papua,
Indonesia.
McClanahan TR, Maina J, Starger CJ, Herron-Perez P, Dusek E. 2005. Detriments to post-bleaching recovery of corals. Coral Reefs 24(2), 230-246.
Baker AC, Starger CJ, McClanahan TR, Glynn PW. 2004. Corals' adaptive response to climate change. Nature 430:741.
McClanahan TR, Sala E, Stickels PA, Cokos BA, Baker AC, Starger CJ, Jones IV SH. 2003. Interaction between nutrients and herbivory in controlling algal communities and coral condition on Glover's Reef, Belize. Marine Ecology Progress Series 261, 135-147.
Visiting students
Inês Carvalho
Ph.D. student, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Algarve, Portugal
Inês is a Ph.D. student at the University of Algarve
and a doctoral fellow of the Portuguese Foundation of
Science and Technology. Her research focuses on
abundance, site fidelity and population structure
of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)
in São Tomé and Príncipe. Inês studied biology at
the University of
Lisbon, where she carried out a thesis on the
behavior of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops
truncatus. During her Master's degree in
ethology at the Institute of Applied
Psychology, she studied the occurrence and
behavior of humpback whales in São Tomé and
Príncipe. Her research was undertaken while she was
a reearch biologist at the Portuguese Center
for the Study of Marine Mammals.
Mitchell J. Eaton
Ph.D. candidate, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado
Mitch received his M.S. in Conservation Biology
& Ecology from the University of Minnesota,
evaluating several harvest index methods to monitor
subsistence hunting in central African forests. His
current study focuses on integrating field-based
research and laboratory tools to improve the
management of wildlife resources in tropical
forests. Mitch is investigating the ecology,
dynamics, and spatial genetic structure of African
dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis)
populations in Loango National Park, Republic of
Gabon. He combines capture-mark-recapture, radio
telemetry and molecular data to estimate dispersal
rates and evaluate landscape features that promote
or restrict crocodile movement. Mitch has designed
a long-term monitoring program in the Lac Tele
Community Reserve, northern Republic of Congo, to
quantify subsistence and commercial harvesting of
fish, crocodiles and other wildlife. He will apply
crocodile harvest-rate data to population growth
models to evaluate the effect of hunting on
population age structure and persistence. Spatial
structure and dispersal rates will be compared to
traditional harvest catchment zones to predict
source-sink dynamics between hunted and non-hunted
populations. These data will be used to develop
techniques for improved spatial management of this
important wildlife resource.
Eaton MJ. 2006. Ecology, conservation and management of the Central African dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis). pp. 84-95, Crocodiles: Proceedings of the 18th Working Meeting of the IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
Thorbjarnarson JB, Eaton MJ. 2004. Preliminary examination of crocodile bushmeat issues in the Republic of Congo and Gabon. pp. 236-247, Crocodiles: Proceedings of the 17th Working Meeting of the IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.