Current Postdocs and Students
Sabine Cudney-Valenzuela
Sabine is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Integrative Biology Department at UC Berkeley. Her research is guided by the intention to understand the cascading effects of land-use change on biodiversity and ecological processes, and to find solutions to mitigate these pressures. Her research integrates multiple areas of ecology (e.g., landscape ecology, community ecology, functional ecology) and takes place in anthropogenic landscapes of Mexico, Colombia, and Madagascar. With a particular love for tree heights and spying on wildlife, Sabine’s methods frequently involve arboreal camera trapping and other conservation technologies.
You can find her publications here. Research interests: Conservation, Landscape Ecology, Community Ecology, Canopy Ecology |
Veronarindra RamananjatoVero is a PhD student in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. Vero has a MS degree in Zoology and Animal Biodiversity from the University of Antananarivo. She is generally interested in the ecology of nocturnal omnivorous lemurs in the rainforests of Madagascar.
Research interests: zoochory, ecology of nocturnal lemurs, ecological changes, ecological modeling Follow her research at this link and on ResearchGate.
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Anaid Cárdenas NavarreteAnaid is PhD student in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. She is interested in the ecological flexibility and behavioral responses of primates in human-modified habitats. She earned her MSc in Biological Sciences from the National Autonomous University in Mexico working with black howler monkeys living in highly disturbed forest fragments in southern Mexico.
Research interests: primate ecological and behavioral flexibility, tropical rainforest ecology, plant-animal interactions, primate conservation
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Katherine CulbertsonKat is a PhD student in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley, co-advised with Matthew Potts.
Kat is interested in the drivers of successful tropical forest landscape restoration, and the co-benefits of forest restoration for biodiversity and ecosystem services. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer ('19-'20) in eastern Madagascar after college, working with community leaders to empower farmers to start and scale multi-strata agroforestry systems, as well as to increase the prevalence of native trees in agricultural landscapes. Kat received her bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard ('18), and has previously studied the behavioral ecology of Anolis lizards, microbial ecology in prairie streams, and monarch butterfly migration. Kat returned to eastern Madagascar for her PhD research, where she currently studies forest regeneration and barriers to rainforest restoration in the landscape of Marojejy National Park, supported by a Berkeley Fellowship and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Research interests: tropical forest restoration, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, sustainable development, community ecology Follow Kat's research and outreach projects here; complete list of publications here. |
Matt McGeeMatt is a PhD student in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. Matt finds way many things interesting, but he's primarily concentrating on how interspecific interactions influence species distributions and how climate change and other anthropogenic disturbances will shift community dynamics. Matt earned his MS from California State University, Monterey Bay, where he studied the drivers of carnivore occupancy and songbird richness along an urbanization gradient in the Salinas Valley. He has also studied endangered songbird populations in Texas and the Everglades, the impacts of warming temperatures on dung beetle breeding biology and bird physiology at the University of Tennessee, and the role of habitat corridors on seed dispersal at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Matt is originally from North Carolina, and while he misses sweet tea very badly, he is excited to live in the Bay Area for the first time! Outside of research, Matt enjoys baking, sports. live music, and many creative hobbies.
Research interests: community dynamics, influences of species distributions, tropical ecology, predictive ecology and modeling"
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Hannah Heilden-ReidHannah is a PHD student in the Integrative Biology department. She was awarded her MS in Anthropology from Portland State University, having dedicated her thesis work to examining Varecia rubra (red ruffed lemur) diel activity. She received her BA degrees in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Hannah has worked as a primate research assistant, laboratory technician, and emergency veterinary technician since completing her undergraduate degrees.
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Raine Zulueta Originally from Cerritos, in Southern California, Raine is currently an undergraduate student at the UC Berkeley. Raine is majoring in Molecular Environmental Biology with an emphasis in Animal Health & Behavior and hopes to work with wildlife in the future. In terms of research, Raine holds interests in wildlife conservation as well as veterinary sciences, and hopes to learn more about field work and general research operations. Outside of academics, Raine enjoys creating art, playing badminton, hiking, and reading about biological anthropology.
Research interests: tropical ecology, wildlife biology, aquatic ecosystems, wildlife conservation, veterinary science |
Interested in joining the lab? More info here.