Current Postdocs and Students
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Dr. Jadelys TonosJade has a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Rice University. She has a general interest in plant-animal mutualisms but is particularly interested in how animal behavior dictates patterns in seed dispersal and contributes to the structure of plant communities. In her PhD work, she explored how a minority of individual plants may monopolize interactions with frugivore partners, and the ways in which such interaction patterns can influence seed dispersal. She also examined how different frugivore groups (primates vs birds) can influence the diversity of a plant’s nearest neighbors.As a postdoc she is excited to continue her work in frugivory and seed dispersal. Examining how resource availability can affect frugivore behavior and subsequent dispersal patterns. As well as using novel metabarcoding techniques to explore the influence of different dispersers on seed deposition patterns.
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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 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 (paper in review). She is a Berkeley Fellow and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, and hopes to return to Madagascar for her PhD research. Research interests: tropical forest restoration, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, sustainable development Follow Kat's research and outreach projects here. |
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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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Raine ZuluetaOriginally from Cerritos, in Southern California, Raine is currently 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 |
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Jessica StubbsJessica is an undergraduate student double majoring in Society and the Environment and Conservation and Resource Studies with a concentration in International Wildlife Conservation at UC Berkeley. She is currently working on her Honors thesis on a project investigating the multi-faceted aspects of plant-lemur interaction networks. Galvanizing community members to act with a potent global consciousness to protect imperiled species is not only a personal crusade but an academic and professional imperative for Jessica. She embeds her free time in the vibrant natural world of California from wildlife photography and snowboarding to falconry and sustainable community gardening.
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Interested in joining the lab? More info here.
