Advisory Board and Editors Zoology
Blanca Moncunill-Solé
I am a palaeobiologist interested in unravelling the biology and evolutionary dynamics of extinct small mammal taxa, particularly on lagomorphs. During my early career, I have developed models for reconstructing the size of past small mammals, and the use cutting-edge palaeontological techniques (e.g. palaeohistology) for disentangling their biology and evolutionary history. These studies allow me to establish the first long-term database of evolutionary responses of small mammals to insularity, being useful for conservation purposes of extant ones. Besides, I am an active researcher in outreaching (articles, workshops, media interviews, exhibition curator, social and outreaching projects, etc.), to bring science to society and to spread my results. At present, my research lines are focused on determination of the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of extinct lagomorphs to past climate and environmental changes, identifying the drivers, biological shifts and extinction rates. In fact, revealing how this family evolved to past environmental changes will contribute to the development of more effective conservationist strategies and policies for threatened extant taxa, helping, hence, in the present and future ecosystem management and protection
Daniel C Moreira
My research interests lie in the area of redox processes in biology and medicine. My main line of work investigates the role and underlying mechanisms of redox metabolism (i.e., reactive species and endogenous antioxidants) in animals during the depression of metabolic rate induced by environmental stresses, including projects that examine the modulation of antioxidant systems in animals exposed to oxygen deprivation and during other situations of metabolic depression. More recently and concurrently, I am also involved in the prospection of bioactive natural compounds (e.g., peptides from amphibians, plant extracts and phytochemicals) for health applications, with emphasis on antioxidant molecules.
Shahla Nargis
Dr. Shahla Nargis, Former Ph.D. Scholar at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Former Research Scholar at Michigan State University, USA. Currently, Working in Sichuan Agricultural University, China.
Korakot Nganvongpanit
Korakot Nganvongpanit, B.Sc., D.V.M., Ph.D., D.T.B.V.S. is Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the Chiang Mai University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Thailand. He is the head of Animal Bone and Joint Research Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University over 15 years, and head of Excellence Center in Veterinary Bioscience, Chiang Mai University.
His research experience focusing on osteology and related areas includes molecular biology/genetic, chondrocyte culture, small animals orthopedic, and rehabilitation. Past projects involved multi-disciplinary research in the areas of animal osteology including; osteoarthritis (in vivo and in vitro), molecular biology/genetic, forensic anthropology, and population genetics.
Darren Norris
Lecturer at the Federal University of Amapá, Brazil. My research interests are broad and are currently focused on the conservation of biodiversity and traditional livelihoods around waterways that traverse political (national and international), cultural and ecological boundaries. I am particularly interested in inter-disciplinary approaches, comprising population and community ecology, population biology, landscape and spatial statistics.
Caitlin E O'Connell-Rodwell
Dr. Caitlin Elizabeth O'Connell-Rodwell is a conservation biologist and author. She is an instructor at Harvard Medical School, and scientific consultant, co-founder and chief executive officer of Utopia Scientific, a non-profit foundation promoting the importance of science and conservation.
Dr. O'Connell-Rodwell's research centers on middle-ear mechanics and the low frequency acoustic and bone conduction hearing of species with sensitivity to frequencies below the human hearing threshold—primarily the elephant.
Jörg Oehlmann
Graduated as Dr. rer. nat. at University Münster in 1994. Habilitation at the International Graduate School Zittau in 1998. 2001-2004: Full professor (C3) for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Goethe University Frankfurt. Since 2004 full professor (C4) for Aquatic Ecotoxicology at Goethe University Frankfurt.
Head of the Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology and the Master's Programme in Environmental Sciences at Goethe University.
Primary research interests: Biological effects monitoring, endocrine active chemicals, pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment, effects of microplastics on aquatic organisms, development of an integrated water resource management.
Karen Osborn
Midwater biologist by way of Western Washington University, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), University of California Berkeley, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Thiago Parente
Scientist in Public Health at the Laboratory of Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC, Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Scientific coordinator of the Institutional Bioinformatics Platform. CNPq Level 2 Research Productivity Scholar (Genetics). Permanent professor at the Graduate program on Systems and Computational Biology IOC, Fiocruz. Graduated in Biological Sciences - Genetics major - from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2006), with a Master's degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from the IOC (2008) and PhD in Biophysics from UFRJ (2012). Through high performance technologies for DNA sequencing and computational data analysis, I investigate the effects of pollution on fauna, using fish as model organisms, and their responses and genetic adaptations to pollutants, especially those involved in the xenobiotic biotransformation system.
Stephanie E Pierce
Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.
Stephanie E. Pierce is a trained paleontologist, anatomist, functional morphologist and evolutionary biomechanist. She completed a BSc degree in paleontology at the University of Alberta, Canada, which included an honors thesis on the anatomy and evolution of hadrosaurian dinosaurs. Directly following this, Stephanie pursued a MSc degree by research in Systematics and Evolution at the University of Alberta studying the anatomy and evolutionary relationships of extinct marine lizards. Her love of vertebrate evolution brought her to the University of Bristol, UK where she embarked on a PhD degree which focused on assessing the interplay between skull shape variation and biomechanical performance in extant and extinct crocodiles. Since finishing her studies, Stephanie has focused her main efforts on examining and reconstructing the 3D anatomy and locomotion potential of early tetrapods (Devonian and Carboniferous) to test hypotheses of limbed movement across the water-land transition.
Xavier Pochon
Team Leader, Molecular Surveillance, Biosecurity Group, Cawthron Institute, New Zealand.
Associate Professor, Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
My research at the Cawthron Institute is highly applied and consist of developing multi-trophic molecular tools for environmental monitoring of marine industries (e.g. aquaculture farms, marine biosecurity in ports and marinas, and deep-sea exploration).
At the University of Auckland, I combine 'real-world' and 'blue-sky' research applications, including; i) investigating functional underpinnings of Symbiodiniaceae in coral reef ecosystems, ii) characterizing microbiomes in aquaculture and natural settings, iii) measuring eDNA and eRNA decay rates in marine invertebrates and vertebrates, iv) studying preferential settlement of marine invasive species associated with marine plastic debris, and v) exploring the diversity and dynamics of open-ocean plankton communities in the Pacific and beyond.
Mason Posner
Professor and former Chairperson of Biology and Toxicology at Ashland University in Ohio. My research focuses on the evolution, physiology and biochemistry of alpha crystallins, a group of small heat shock proteins that protect cells against stress and are implicated in numerous diseases such as lens cataracts, Parkinsons, Alzheimers and cancer. My undergraduate research students and I use the zebrafish and other fish species as models to investigate alpha crystallin function. Our work involves qPCR to measure gene expression, CRISPR gene editing, proteomics, transcriptomics, promoter analysis and histology.
My background is in marine biology, systematics, ecology, molecular biology, protein biochemistry and comparative visual physiology. I train undergraduate research assistants in my laboratory and prepare students for graduate and professional schools and work in industry.