Full Professor and former Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University. Director of FIU DNA Core facility. Past Program Director for NSF Division of Environmental Biology, Systematics and Biodiversity Cluster.
Research interests include: Molecular Systematics, Evolution, Biogeography, and Phylogeography: Rates, patterns, and mechanisms of molecular evolution , including nucleotide sequence evolution and mitochondrial gene order change, and consequences for phylogenetic reconstruction and reconstruction of ancestral states. Integration of molecular data with paleontological and morphological data. Using phylogenies to address biological questions.
I am interested in the distribution and diversity patterns of insects and the reasons underlying observed patterns. I study both point diversity and compositional differences in insect and plant community patterns and relate these to ecological and evolutionary processes. I am also interested in the evolution of exaggerated traits in insects, such as those traits associated with sexual selection. The functional morphology of insect mouthparts, particularly of insect pollinators, are a further area of interest, as is the systematics and taxonomy of beetles (Scarabaeidae).
Dr. Erik Cordes is a Professor and the Vice Chair of Biology at Temple University. He has worked on the ecology of deep-sea corals and hydrocarbon seeps for over 20 years. He studies these ecosystems at all levels of organization, from energy flow in ecosystems and patterns of community assembly, down to gene expression and microbial processes. Dr. Cordes worked on deep-sea corals for his Master’s thesis at Moss Landing Marine Labs, worked on cold-seep ecology for his Ph.D. at Penn State University, and studied the microbial communities within hydrothermal vent chimneys during his NSF Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Harvard. At Temple, his lab has continued to explore the deep Gulf of Mexico while working on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on deep-sea coral communities and the effects of ocean acidification on the reef-forming deep-sea coral Lophelia pertusa. Ongoing investigations in the Cordes lab include the seeps and corals off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, the deep-sea corals of the Phoenix Islands, and the various deepwater habitats of the Atlantic coast of the US.
Dr. Mariano Coscarella is a Senior Researcher at the National Council of Research of Argentina and Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco.
His skills and expertise include Conservation Biology, Fish Ecology, Marine Ecology, Conservation, Marine Mammals, Wildlife Conservation, Behavioral Ecology, Animal Behavior, Wildlife Ecology and Wildlife Biology.
B.Sc. (NUI Galway); Ph.D. 1987 (NUI Cork). Involved in World Register of Marine Species, International Association for Biological Oceanography, Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Ocean Biodiversity Information System, Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network, Species 2000, IUCN. Worked in Ireland, Plymouth England, Aberdeen and Edinburgh Scotland, St Andrews Canada, and Auckland New Zealand.
Professor of Plant Palaeoscience. Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) and founding member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa. Former President of the International Society of Mediterranean Ecologists and former Editor-in-Chief of Conservation Letters.
Associate Professor of Botany and Curator of the University of Reading Herbarium (RNG).
I am interested in integrating phylogeographic and molecular approaches to infer evolutionary processes that explain current patterns of genetic diversity in marine organisms, particularly on isolated oceanic islands. I have worked on natural populations of marine snails from Cape Verde to address problems of speciation and geographic variation and to analyse the influence of historical processes, as the effect of sea-level changes on the genetic structure of organisms. Currently, I am interested in the identification of gamete recognition proteins involved in reproductive incompatibilities and their role in the evolution of non-geographic barriers that, ultimately, may generate sympatric divergence.
Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Research interests include invasive species, plant-animal interactions, population biology, island biology, conservation and biogeography.
Prof. Savel Daniels is a Professor within the Evolutionary Genomics Group at the University of Stellenbosch. His research centers on understanding the interplay between species diversity and historical time in southern Africa, focusing on evolutionary relationships of a wide number of terrestrial and inland aquatic groups, primarily invertebrates.
I am a paleobiologist. My main research focuses on reproductive strategies and macroevolution, particularly on the contributions of biotic interactions (e.g., parasitism) and abiotic factors (e.g., climate) in controlling evolutionary and diversity patterns. To this end, I work with a variety of approaches that combine research on fossil molluscs, coprolites and fieldwork with large-scale quantitative analyses. Other interests are quantitative methods to study biostratigraphy, intraspecific variability and paleobiology in general. My main taxonomic expertise is on invertebrates, mainly (extinct) cephalopod mollusks and parasitic helminths. The promotion of diversity and young scientists as well as scientific collaboration and reproducibility in paleontology are particularly close to my heart.
Head of Mycology at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.