 |
Colleagues and Lab Members
Colleagues:
Postdoctoral Associates
 |
Christy McCain (2007) (Assistant Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder |
Graduate Lab Members
|
Dolly Crawford
My research examines the interaction between ecology and climate on the genetic structure of montane mammal communities, including the interaction dynamics of ecological, climatological and genetic parameters on the population connectivity and distribution of those communities.
|
|
Genotypic and phenotypic variation are recognized as important to the adaptive flexibility, evolution, and survivorship of populations, and may be influenced by a variety of ecogeographic factors. While theory with regard to the mechanisms underlying patterns of genotypic and phenotypic variation in isolated populations is well established, less is known about the specific determinants of observable variation in natural populations. Accordingly, my primary research interests include the quantification of both genetic and morphological variation within populations of small mammals occurring on habitat islands throughout the Southwestern United States, and the identification of geographic and ecological determinants of that variation.
|
 |
Larisa Harding
My research interests center on the processes that drive biological diversity through space and time. I find an interdisciplinary approach appealing to tease apart and reconstruct the forces that cause organisms to evolve different strategies for adaptation to their physical environments. I am interested in how ecological and historical factors corroborate to impact phenotypic variation in vertebrates, and primarily in mammals. My background has been full of working with large carnivores, and my current research has been focused on how genetic structure corresponds to the current biogeography in an amazing carnivore, the long-tailed weasel. I happily confess that I enjoy working with mammals that eat other mammals, though admittedly, I also find the questions very intriguing that one might ask and reasonably test using smaller mammals and the 'fossilized' clues they leave behind in middens as well as their phenotypic and genetic heritage that signals climate change and tracks its course through history.
|
|
Topics such as life histories and their evolution, nutritional ecology, and reproductive ecology, find me paying special attention. I hate to be taxonomically biased, but anything related to our scaly and slimy friends the reptiles and amphibians, is automatically pushed to the front of the line for me. My current research includes a stable isotope approach to answering questions related to foraging ecology and energy allocation to reproduction, utilizing the western box turtle as a model. In addition, I am involved in a life history study of the desert woodrat in Death Valley National Park, with some thermal biology and paleo-midden work sprinkled here and there for good measure.s
|
 |
Shawn "Fred" Whiteman
My past research includes studying the effect of banner-tailed kangaroo rats, a keystone species, on reptile populations. I am currently working on identifying Neotoma teeth found in paleomiddens in order to identify the species that created them. I'm interested in conservation, macroecology, arid ecosystems, and just about anything that wiggles or walks. I'm considering working on how human activity affects ecosystems in East Africa for my dissertation.
|
|
Kristin Youberg
(High School Biology Teacher)
I am interested in the influence of body size on the distribution of mammalian species across continental boundaries. I am researching whether there is a taxonomic or body size bias that affects the “sharedness” of mammals across the major continents. Also, I am interested in analyzing the life history characteristics of those species that are found on multiple continents to determine if they contribute to their multi-continent success.
|
Undergraduate Lab Members
|
Adrienne Raniszewski
Before packrat paleomiddens can be properly examined, they must be disassociated. The procedure we use involves soaking the middens in water for several days. I am working on determining whether the size of the pellets is changed significantly during this process. If it is, I hope to find a way to adjust our pellet measurements for this change.
|
 |
Jessica Taylor Martin
Aspects of biology that get me excited include evolutionary ecology, plant-animal interactions, disease ecology, environmental gradients, conservation, and ecotoxicology. My current research project aims to examine the relationship between plant defenses and the spatial distribution of Desert Woodrats at our study site in Death Valley, CA.
|
|
