Advisory Board and Editors Biodiversity
Gianni Barcaccia
Since 2017, Dr. Gianni Barcaccia is a full Professor of Plant Genetics and Genomics at the School of Agriculture Science and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Padova (Italy) and Adjunct Professor of Plant Breeding at the University of Georgia, Athens (USA). Education: M.Sc. degree in Plant Genetics and Breeding in 1991 and Ph.D. title on Plant Reproductive Systems and Population Genetics in 1995 at the University of Perugia, Italy. Tenured Professor of Plant Genetics and Genomics at the University of Padova from 2001 to 2016.
Head of the Department of Agronomy Food Natural resources Animals and Environment (DAFNAE) at the University of Padova for the academic years 2019-2023 (www.dafnae.unipd.it). Vice-director and Coordinator of the Department Commissions for Scientific Research, Technology Transfer and Third Mission from 2014 to 2019.
Head of the Laboratory of Genomics for Plant Breeding, University of Padova. Research expertise on plant reproductive systems and barriers (male-sterility, self-incompatibility and apomixis), use of molecular markers for population genetics and genomics selection, and marker-assisted breeding. Principal investigator of BreedOmics, a laboratory service of genomics for breeding populations and for genetic identification of varieties and genetic authentication of their foodstuffs. Molecular techniques: DNA fingerprinting, SSR genotyping, SNP haplotyping, DNA barcoding, NGS sequencing (www.giannibarcaccia.com).
James Baxter-Gilbert
I am a Lecturer at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB, Canada, where I teach a variety of biology and science communication courses. The central core of my research examines how anthropogenic landscapes and actions impact wildlife. Commonly my research examines how phenotypic change, triggered by urbanisation or biological invasion, may allow reptiles and amphibians the ability to meet the challenges of a human-dominated world.
I completed my BSc (Biology), GDip (Science Communication), and MSc (Biology) at Laurentian University. My MSc research examined: (1) the effectiveness of mitigation structures at reducing reptile road mortality while maintaining population connectivity and (2) developing techniques for evaluating chronic stress in reptiles relating to roads and traffic. I completed my PhD at Macquarie University, which examined how Australian Water Dragons were responding to anthropogenic habitats through urban-derived divergent phenotypes; testing behavioural, morphological, and physiology traits between urbanise and natural-living populations. I then when on to conduct postdoctoral research at Stellenbosch University in the Centre for Invasion Biology examining how biological invasion were impacting the behavioural, morphological, and physiology traits of Guttural Toads as they transition from native to invasive, and urban to natural habitats.
Michael Beman
The overarching goal of my research program is to develop a predictive understanding of microbial ecology and biogeochemistry in the ‘Anthropocene’ sea. My research sits at the interface of microbial ecology, biogeochemistry, and global change science, and I work worldwide in reefs and estuaries, marine lakes and mountain lakes, and the open ocean. I focus on the responses of microbial communities, and the processes mediated by these communities, to environmental change—including climate change, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation.
I received a B.S. from Yale University and a Ph.D. from Stanford in Geological and Environmental Sciences; before joining the UC Merced faculty in 2009, where I was a postdoc in Marine Environmental Biology at USC, a lecturer at UCLA, and an Assistant Researcher at the University of Hawai’i. I am an Associate Professor and member of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute and the Environmental Systems and Quantitative and Systems Biology graduate groups.
Renato Benesperi
Associate Professor at the Department of Biology of the University of Florence.
His main research activity focuses on ecology, diversity and systematic of lichens. Research topics include the assessment and management of impacts of human activities (e.g. forest management, invasive alien species, climate changes) on lichen and plant communities.
Mark C. Benfield
Professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, College of the Coast and Environment at Louisiana State University. Adjunct (Guest Investigator) in the Biology Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Member and Past-Chair of the ICES Working Group on Zooplankton Ecology, member of the ICES Working Group on Integrated Morphological and Molecular Taxonomy, Director of the Gulf SERPENT Project. Ph.D. (Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences) from Texas A&M University.
Punyasloke Bhadury
I study microbial complexity (biocomplexity) across coastal oceans to understand how ocean geochemistry has shaped plasticity and consequences for key ecosystem processes such as carbon and nitrogen cycling. I am particularly interested to address the link between land-ocean-atmosphere in shaping microbial complexity across oceanic realms. I also have keen interests in metazoan biogeography, biomonitoring of aquatic ecosystems and elucidating resilience in microbes. I use geochemical, microscopy and molecular tools (e.g. eDNA, genomics) to address these questions.
Rüdiger Bieler
Curator (research professor) in the Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago and Member of the Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago
Research interests include evolutionary systematics, biogeography, comparative morphology, and taxonomy, with special focus on marine Mollusca, especially Gastropoda and Bivalvia. As a “museum person,” he is particularly interested in the development and application of organismal, collections-based research, ranging from extensive new field surveys and large-scale specimen and data management issues, to the integration of morphological, paleontological, and molecular data to address biological research questions. He recently served as lead PI of the Bivalve Assembling-the-Tree-of-Life (BivAToL.org) effort and is involved in coral reef restoration projects and associated invertebrate surveys in the Florida Keys. Past offices include service as president of the American Malacological Society and of the International Society of Malacology (Unitas), and he currently a member of the steering committee of WoRMS (marinespecies.org) and a chief editor in the MolluscaBase.org effort.
Trine Bilde
Professor in Evolutionary Biology at the Department of Biology at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Jason E Bond
Professor and Evert and Marion Schlinger Chair in Insect Systematics. Primary area of specialty is evolutionary diversification of terrestrial arthropods with an emphasis in spider systematics and taxonomy. Other interests include diplopod and tenebrionid beetle systematics, taxonomy, and speciation pattern/process.
Alison G Boyer
Research scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Chief Scientist of the ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) since 2016. The ORNL DAAC provides data management, curation, and data disimmenation for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Terrestrial Ecology Program.
Joint Faculty Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
General research interests: global change ecology, biogeography, and biodiversity. Her research uses remote sensing data, machine learning, and other data science tools to understand the past and present interactions between human societies and ecological communities.
Mario Brauns
Researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ and head of the food web ecology lab.
Research interests include: Lotic ecosystem processes, freshwater food webs, benthic secondary production, functional assessment, stable isotopes, invasive species.
Mya Breitbart
Professor at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science studying viral and microbial ecology