Advisory Board and Editors Biogeography
Nikolaos Nikoloudakis
Dr. Nikolaos Nikoloudakis is an Assistant Professor at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). He graduated (2002) from the Agricultural Biotechnology Department of the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) and has a MSc in the field of plant biotechnology (2005). He obtained his PhD at the Plant Breeding and Biometry Laboratory (AUA) caring out research involving phylogenetic relationships of Avena species and the study of intergenomic modifications using interspecific hybrids of different ploidy levels (2009). Furthermore, he was a post-doc researcher and a special teaching staff at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science (ABF) of the Cyprus University of Technology (2017-2022). He has also served as a technical manager of the national reference laboratories of the Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food, regarding GMO detection in seed lots and the control of pathogenic viruses in plant reproductive material (2011-2016). He has contributed to the formation of research networks as a partner from CUT in several national and European projects and participates in several funded research projects (Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, Prima, RIF and ECPGR). His main research interests are agricultural biotechnology, plant genetic resources, genotyping, and flow cytometry.
David B Norman
Odell Fellow in the Natural Sciences at Christ's College Cambridge, University Reader in the Natural Sciences and Curator of Fossil Vertebrates at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Chairman of the Charles Darwin & Galapagos Islands Trust Fund. Associate Editor (and former Editor) of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London. Council Member of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
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.
Donovan H Parks
Donovan Parks holds a PhD in computer science and has developed a number of bioinformatic programs used by the research community including CheckM, STAMP, and GenGIS. He has expertise in bioinformatics relating to microbial ecology, phylogenetics, and metagenome-assembled genomes. He is currently working as a bioinformatic consultant with the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics where he is working on an initiative to resolve long-standing issues within bacterial and archaeal nomenclature and developing new tools for reconstructing and validating genomes obtained directly from environmental samples.
Gabriela Parra Olea
Full time Professor at the Instituto de Biologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
Marcio R Pie
Associate Professor of Zoology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil.
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.
Nikolay A Poyarkov
I am a herpetologist working on diverse aspects of taxonomy, phylogeny and biodiversity of Asian herpetofauna. I have graduated from the Department of Vertebrate Zoology of Lomonosov Moscow State University and finished my PhD on taxonomy and evolution of Asian salamanders (Hynobiidae) in 2010. Presently I am working in this department as an associate professor. My study is focused on a set of topics on evolutionary biology and taxonomy of Asian amphibians and reptiles, including molecular systematics, phylogeography, DNA-barcoding, distribution and taxonomy of certain groups of Asian herps.
Juan P Quimbayo
I am an ecologist who uses a multidisciplinary approach to understand and conserve biodiversity through space and time. I earned my Ph.D. from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil and served as a Research Scientist at the Ohio State University. I previously conducted post-doctoral work at other institutions, including the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and São Paulo University. I joined the U in 2024 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology where I established the BioScales Lab. My lab focuses on exploring: (1) patterns and processes of biodiversity dynamics across space and time, (2) ecological interactions, and (3) effects of global change on biodiversity. To investigate these themes, we integrate theoretical concepts, statistical tools, and field-based methods across multiple scales.
Santiago Ramirez-Barahona
I am specially interested in the ecological, geographical and historical factors that influence species and gene diversities at different spatial scales. For this, I'm studying different aspects of plant evolution, from genetic structure within and among populations to species diversification among lineages, community composition and distribution patterns.
Sushma Reddy
Dr. Sushma Reddy is the Breckenridge Chair of Ornithology at the Bell Museum of Natural History and Associate Professor in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota. Her research investigates biological diversity by using genetic, phenotypic, and geographic data to study the evolutionary history of birds. From adaptive radiations in Madagascar to diversification patterns in the Old World tropics and the early evolution of modern birds, her work spans the breadth of avian phylogenetics. As a natural history museum curator, she oversees the Bell Museum’s collection of bird specimens and is part of a global network of biodiversity repositories, a key resource for understanding environmental change. She collaborates with scientists across the world and trains students at all levels. Her research continues to build our knowledge of bird diversity and aid conservation efforts.
James Davis Reimer
James Davis Reimer's research focuses on the biodiversity of understudied marine invertebrate groups (so-called "minor taxa"), primarily benthic cnidarians including zoantharians and their endosymbionts, as well as octocorals, from shallow tropical coral reefs to the deep sea. Recent research has also examined the impact of coastal development on marine diversity and ecosystems. Since 2007, he has been based at the University of the Ryukyus, where he is now a professor.
In 2015, he was awarded the Okinawa Research Prize for science contributing to the well-being and understanding of the Ryukyu Islands, and in 2021, he was awarded the Narishige Prize by the Zoological Society of Japan in recognition of his unique research output.