Students
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David Birlenbach  671 Morrill Hall |
I study changes in the community structure of North American mammals from the Paleocene and Eocene (approximately 66 through 34 million years ago). In order to study these changes I look at the size and shape of fossil teeth. Tooth dimensions are a great way to determine diets and body size, which will be useful for determining an organisms role in an ecosystem (e.g. carnivores, herbivores). Observing these changes in the composition of mammalian communities over time will provide insight into the evolution of mammals. (Advisor - Jon Marcot) |
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Fred Benham 433 Morrill Hall |
(Advisor - Zac Cheviron) |
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John Crawford 471 Morrill Hall | I study Ecology, Rapid Evolution, and Invasion biology in Zooplankton. I use am currently studying the life-history evolution of Daphnia pulicaria. I will also be studying various aspects of the invasive zooplankton Daphnia lumholtzi. Through methods in invasion biology, evolutionary ecology, and resurrection ecology, I aim to determine a potential mechanism for the success of effective invasive species. This should either show that an effective invasive species is the product of preadaptation in the native range or rapid evolution in the invaded range. (Advisor - Carla Caceres) |
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Lauren Fields 17C Burrill Hall (217) 244-2931 |
I study the ecological physiology of blood antifreeze proteins in order to better understand the biology of these extreme cold adapted organisms. Research interests also include thermal tolerance of fish adapted to a narrow temperature range, quantitative measures to determine antifreeze amount, and human impacts on the fragile Southern Ocean ecosystem. (Advisor - Art DeVries) |
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Christopher Holmes (217) 300-2324 |
My research focuses on the role of zooplankton dispersal and subsequent colonization on community assemblages in aquatic ecosystems. Studying these metacommunity dynamics will help us understand how zooplankton populations will respond to habitat alteration and how overall ecosystem biodiversity will be affected. (Advisor - Carla Caceres) |
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Katie Laskowski 429 Morrill Hall (217) 244-3869 |
I'm interested in understanding the origin and maintenance of variation in consistent individual differences in behavior, using threespine sticklebacks as a model. (Advisor - Alison Bell) |  |
Anna Molineaux 465 Morrill Hall (217) 244-7724 |
I'm studying the role of retinoic acid (RA) in limb development. Specifically, how RA influences proximal-distal and anterior-posterior patterning of the limb. I'm also interested in transgenics, and hope to generate the first transgenic opossum. (Advisor - Karen Sears) |
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Brett Mommer 429 Morrill Hall (217) 244-3869 |
I'm interested in the evolutionary consequences and the physiological and behavioral mechanisms behind non-genetic parental effects, using the social threespine stickleback as a model. (Advisor - Alison Bell) |
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Torrey Rodgers 2020 INHS, 1816 S. Oak |
I study the use of noninvasive genetic techniques for research and conservation of elusive small felids. Specifically, I am integrating noninvasive genetic techniques with camera trapping to study social organization and kin-structure in ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) in Panama, and I am testing metrics for estimating population density using fecal noninvasive genetics for use in small felid conservation. (Advisors - Ed Heske and Robert Schooley) |
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Madhura Siddappaji 491 Morrill Hall (217) 333-8002 |
To understand how plants overcome the herbivory damage. Suite of techniques (QTL mapping, complementation studies, and sequence variation) will be used to understand quantitative and molecular mechanisms of overcompensation (ability of plant to perform better compared to undamaged plants) (Advisor - Ken Paige) |
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Nicholas Sly 433 Morrill Hall |
I study the genetic and developmental basis of color patterns in birds. I'm interested in how these mechanisms might either constrain or facilitate rapid evolution of color patterns. (Advisor - Zac Cheviron)
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Maria Stager 433 Morrill Hall |
I am evaluating the effects of day length and temperature on seasonal variation in metabolic performance and correlated differences in underlying gene expression profiles of a common song bird in order to gain insight into the fundamental mechanisms of avian metabolic flexibility. (Advisor - Zac Cheviron)
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Laura Stein 437 Morrill Hall (217) 333-2308 |
I am interested in how behavioral plasticity and parental effects influence evolutionary patterns. Specifically, I am testing the flexible stem model of adaptive radiations by examining how plasticity in parental care and subsequent parental effects on offspring interact to influence rapid, adaptive evolution using the threespine stickleback as a model. (Advisor - Alison Bell) |
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Daniel Urban 465 Morrill Hall (217) 244-7724 |
I am interested in evolutionary developmental biology and paleontology, specifically seeking to uncover the mechanisms that drive large-scale evolutionary transitions. Currently working on limb development and digit reduction in Laurasiatherians. (Advisor - Karen Sears) |  |
Daniel Welsh 202 Shelford Vivarium (217) 333-5323 |
Mate choice and reproductive behavior; what cues and signals bluefin killifish use to choose their mates and how these different signals and cues interact with each other and the environment. (Advisor - Becky Fuller) |
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Bill Wills 683 Morrill Hall (217) 333-3687 |
My research explores how ecology constrains or facilitates the evolution of caste structure and division of labor in social insects. I will examine the significance of body size distributions in ants by analyzing the costs and benefits of worker size versus number tradeoffs in polymorphic ant species (highly variable worker body size). (Advisor - Andy Suarez) |
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Xuan Zhuang 17C Burrill Hall (217) 244-2931 |
Molecular evolution of mitochondial genes in the teleost suborder Notothenioidei (order Perciformes), evolution and functional physiology of NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 in Antarctic notothenioid fishes. (Advisor - Chris Cheng) |