The Anderson Lab
We study spatial patterns of environmental suitability ...,
and their ecological, evolutionary, and practical consequences.
Valentina Grisales is a senior Biology student at Universidad EAFIT (Medellín, Colombia); and an active member of the research group “Biodiversity, Conservation and Evolution” (BEC) from the same university.
From Valentina: During my undergraduate, my interests have been focused on mammalian diversity and its conservation. I have fieldwork, museum, and laboratory experience that involves the study of small neotropical non-volant and volant mammals. During the last four years, I’ve been working on a long-term mammal inventory in one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots, the Biogeographical Choco. As part of this inventory, we are generating the first large-scale DNA barcode library for Colombian mammals. More recently, I got interested in biogeography and ecological niche modeling methodologies. In August 2018, I started an internship at the Anderson Lab in the City College of New York. I’ve been working on the unit testing and the debugging of the software Wallace. Also, I am using two Colombian species of shrew opossums to test R code under development that will be incorporated into Wallace (in collaboration with the Blair Lab at the Center of Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History).
Ella is a researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. During her sabbatical year at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, she is spending Tuesdays with us and the other ecology/evolution/biogeography labs at CCNY.
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From Ella: I use molecular genetic markers to explore problems in ecology and evolution. I do this this to study the genetic relationships between individuals, populations and species of vertebrates, as well as the diversity and genetic structuring of their populations. Also, I study the relationships between the distribution of lineages and the geographic distribution of organisms, to explore questions about intraspecific and comparative phylogeography and landscape genetics. I also apply distribution modeling techniques to further explore the relationships between genetics, ecology and history. Our work is also concerned with conservation biology and genetics, applying the information obtained by the research lines described above for the conservation of natural resources, the identification of species and populations at risk and for the definition and management of threatened species and conservation areas.
Ella is a researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. During her sabbatical year at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, she is spending Tuesdays with us and the other ecology/evolution/biogeography labs at CCNY.
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From Ella: I use molecular genetic markers to explore problems in ecology and evolution. I do this this to study the genetic relationships between individuals, populations and species of vertebrates, as well as the diversity and genetic structuring of their populations. Also, I study the relationships between the distribution of lineages and the geographic distribution of organisms, to explore questions about intraspecific and comparative phylogeography and landscape genetics. I also apply distribution modeling techniques to further explore the relationships between genetics, ecology and history. Our work is also concerned with conservation biology and genetics, applying the information obtained by the research lines described above for the conservation of natural resources, the identification of species and populations at risk and for the definition and management of threatened species and conservation areas.
Javier is a Ph.D. student at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. He is conducting a four-month research stay at the lab.
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From Javi: Javier Morente Lopez started his Ph.D. in February of 2014 in Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. He is from Madrid, Spain. Javier did his undergraduate studies in Biology (Ecology and Botany) at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. Later he completed a master’s in Characterization and Conservation of Biodiversity at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos where he conducted research on plant pollinator mutualistic network conformation. Right now his research is focused on local adaptation processes in high mountain ecosystems. Principally he works with Silene cililata Pourr. (Caryophillaceae), a chamaephytic cushion plant that grows in alpine cryophylic pastures of the Mediterranean mountains. Javier is developing an integrative view to disentangle local adaptation processes using genetic, genomics and phenotypic data. He also carries out in situ common garden experiments to test local adaptation of populations and the effects of gene flow between populations. Javier has received several grants from the Spanish government (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad). He joined the lab in September 2016 to work on a collaboration with Robert Anderson and Jamie Kass for four months. During this sort stay he is interested in incorporating niche modeling in studies of local adaptation processes. He is investigating the possibility of finding potentially adaptive areas using species distribution models.