Recent Graduates

Degree Earned: M.A. in entomology (non-thesis)

Term of Graduation: Summer 2009

Faculty Mentor: Deborah Smith

Report Title: Three dimensional path integration in the house mouse

Currently a doctoral student at the University of Florida

Degree Earned: M.A. in entomology

Term of Graduation: Fall 2008

Faculty Mentor: Orley “Chip” Taylor

Master's Presentation: August 14, 2008

Thesis Title:

A possible size-determined directional selection in Danaus plexippus (Lepidoptera: Danaidae) with evidence from stable isotope analysis

Currently completing master's level teaching certification at Johannes Gutenberg University

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Fall 2007

Faculty Mentors: Town Peterson and Linda Trueb

Dissertation Defense: August 6, 2007

Dissertation Title: Evolution of the New World jays (Corvidae): phylogeny, biogeography, and ecology

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Fall 2007

Faculty Mentor: Kirsten Jensen

Master's Presentation: August 20, 2007

Thesis Title: A survey of the tapeworm fauna of the cownose ray, Rhinoptera bonasus, form the northern Gulf of Mexico with comments on intermediate hosts

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Fall 2007

Faculty Mentors: Ed O. Wiley and Deborah Smith

Dissertation Defense: July 13, 2007

Dissertation Title: Population genetic patterns in sister species pairs sharing a single speciation event: A study of two species pairs of freshwater fishes

Currently a research associate at the University of Arizona

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Summer 2009

Faculty Mentors: James Thorp

Dissertation Defense: May 15, 2009

Dissertation Title: Resource pulses and spatial subsidies in Ozark Karst Springs: Effects on community structure and food webs

Currently an assistant professor of biology and chair of the Environmental Studies program at Drury University in Springfield, MO

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2008

Faculty Mentor: Ed O. Wiley

Dissertation Defense: April 24, 2008

Dissertation Title: Ecological niche modeling as a predictive tool: Asiatic freshwater fishes in North America

Currently in an administrative and research position at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology for the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2009

Faculty Mentor: Bryan Foster

Dissertation Defense: March 5, 2009 — Honors

Dissertation Title: Population and community responses to anthropogenic environmental changes

Currently a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Degree Earned: M.A. in entomology

Term of Graduation: Summer 2008

Faculty Mentors: Michael Engel and the former Steve Ashe

Master's Presentation: June 6, 2008

Thesis Title: Morphology and phylogeny of the weevil subfamily Baridinae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in entomology at KU

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2008

Faculty Mentors: James Thorp

Master's Presentation: January 28, 2008

Thesis Title: Landscape impacts on fish community structure and food chain length in prairie and Ozark rivers

Currently enrolled in a doctoral program at Michigan State University

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Fall 2008

Faculty Mentor: Ed O. Wiley

Dissertation Defense: December 10, 2008

Dissertation Title: Interrelationships of fishes of the order Stomiiformes

Currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2008

Faculty Mentor: Helen Alexander

Dissertation Defense: April 18, 2008

Dissertation Title: Population ecology and management of the invasive plant, Lespedeza cuneata

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Summer 2009

Faculty Mentor: Paulyn Cartwright

Master's Presentation: July 14, 2009

Thesis Title: The phylogenetic placement of two enigmatic metazoan parasites: Polypodium hydriforme and Myxozoa

Currently a doctoral student at the University of Florida

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2009

Faculty Mentors: John K. Kelly and Maria Orive

Master's Presentation: March 27, 2009

Thesis Title: The effects of directional epistasis on molecular evolution

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Summer 2008

Faculty Mentor: Deborah Smith

Dissertation Defense: June 30, 2008

Dissertation Title: Phylogeny and classification of the bee tribe Megachilini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Megachilidae), with emphasis on the genus Megachile

Currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory for the USDA in Logan, Utah

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Fall 2007

Faculty Mentor: Linda Trueb

Dissertation Defense: November 19, 2007

Dissertation Title: Phylogeny, taxonomy, character evolution, and biogeography of glassfrogs (Amphibia: Centrolenidae)

Currently teaching and doing research at the Universidad Catolica in Quito, Ecuador

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in entomology

Term of Graduation: Summer 2008

Faculty Mentor: Michael Engel and the former Steve Ashe

Dissertation Defense: June 24, 2008, Honors

Dissertation Title: Comprehensive phylogenetics, systematics, and evolution of the neoteny of Lampyridae (Insecta: Coleoptera)

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2008

Faculty Mentors: Bryan Foster and Val Smith

Master's Presentation: March 3, 2008

Thesis Title: Arthropod and plant responses to resource availability and heterogeneity

Currently a research specialist at the University of Pennsylvania

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Summer 2009

Faculty Mentors: Kirsten Jensen

Master's Presentation: June 29, 2009

Thesis Title: The lecanicephalidean fauna of three species of eagle rays of the genus Aetomylaeus (Myliobatiformes: Myliobatidae)

Currently a research assistant with Kirsten Jensen

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Summer 2009

Faculty Mentors: A. Townsend Peterson

Master's Presentation: July 20, 2009

Thesis Title: Biogeography, ecology and conservation of Paradisaeidae: Consequences of environmental and climatic changes

Currently working with the Papua New Guinea Institute of Biological Research

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Fall 2008

Faculty Mentor: Mark Mort

Dissertation Defense: October 6, 2008 — Honors

Dissertation Title: Systematics and glacial population history of the Alternifolium group of the flowering plant genus Chrysoplenium (Saxifragaceae)

Currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alaska — Fairbanks

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in entomology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2009

Faculty Mentor: Rudolf Jander

Dissertation Defense: April 15, 2009

Dissertation Title: Redefining honeybee foraging cognition

Will begin postdoctoral research studying spider silk production at Cornell University spring 2010

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Summer 2009

Faculty Mentors: Mark Mort

Master's Presentation: June 24, 2009

Thesis Title: Phylogenetics and biogeography of Aichryson inferred from chloroplast DNA sequences

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2009

Faculty Mentor: Robert Moyle

Master's Presentation: April 28, 2009

Thesis Title: Origin and diversification of Philippine bulbuls

Currently working on the Calayan Rail Project of Isla Biodiversity Conservation, a small NGO operating in the northern Philippines

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Fall 2008

Faculty Mentor: Kirsten Jensen

Master's Presentation: August 22, 2008

Thesis Title:Multiple species of Phoreiobothrium from the blacktip shark, Carcharhinus limbatus, in the Gulf of Mexico

Currently a doctoral student with Ed O. Wiley at the University of Kansas

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2009

Faculty Mentor: A. Townsend Peterson

Dissertation Defense: April 21, 2009 — Honors

Dissertation Title: Ecological applications of remote sensing data in neotropical rainforests

Currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin — Madison, Center for Limnology

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology (non-thesis)

Term of Graduation: Spring 2008

Faculty Mentors: Walter Dimmick

Report Title: Population genetics of captive and wild-caught Topeka shiners (Notropis topeka)

Currently a master's student in the political science program at the University of Kansas

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2008

Faculty Mentors: Bryan Foster

Dissertation Defense: April 22, 2008

Dissertation Title: Disturbance, spatial turnover, and species coexistence in grassland plant communities

Currently a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Hawaii

Degree Earned: M.A. in ecology and evolutionary biology (non-thesis)

Term of Graduation: Spring 2008

Faculty Mentors: Joy Ward

Report Title: Interactive effects of increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration and temperature on flowering time of Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes between the preindustrial and present periods

Degree Earned: Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology

Term of Graduation: Spring 2009

Faculty Mentors: Larry Martin

Dissertation Defense: April 21, 2009

Dissertation Title: Small mammal faunal stasis in Natural Trap Cave (Pleistocene – Holocene), Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming

Currently a temporary Assistant Professor at Georgia Southern University