EEB 2024 Spring Newsletter
Spring 2023 NewsfEEB
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
January/February 2023
Fall 2022 NewsfEEB
Summer 2022 NewsfEEB
Spring 2022 NewsfEEB
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022. EEB’s Dr. Josh Perkin has been focusing on how small fish species react to disruptions to water flow in creeks, streams and rivers. See the article in AgriLife Today.
Fall 2021
November 2021 NewsfEEB
October 2021 NewsfEEB
August-Sepember 2021 NewsfEEB
EEB Fall 2021 Series Seminar schedule is up. Check it out.
Spring/Summer 2021
… July 2021 NewsfEEB
… CONGRATULATIONS Thomas E. Lacher, Jr., the recipient of the 2021 Leopold Award!
… Congratulations EEB student Rachel Busselman (Hamer Lab) on being accepted to vet school!
… CONGRATULATIONS to the following EEB students and faculty:
-
- Tori Spencer for receiving the NSF GRFP
- Natalie Aguirre for GRFP Honorable Mention
- Dr. Jessica Light for receiving the ACE Diversity Service Faculty Award
- Michael McCloy for receiving the ESA’s Graduate Student Policy Award
… Application is now open for the 2021-22 Dissertation Fellowship. Submission deadline is 5:00 pm CDT on Friday, May 14th.
… Annual summer short course on One Health Outbreak Investigation, taught by instructors at UTMB, UTRGV, and TAMU. It will be mostly virtual this summer. The course is open to MD, DVM, PhD, MS, MPH students. Please apply or learn more at the links in the flyer. [One Health flyer]
… EEB student Mickey Parker will compete as a finalist in the 3-minute thesis competition! The winner gets serious cash and all expenses paid to the national 3-minute thesis competition!
Go Mickey! See the flyer for finalist information.
… Darwin Day 2021 kicks off February 12! Get preliminary information here. Our keynote speaker is Dr. Joseph L. Graves. Details are evolving.
… EEB Spring Seminar Series starts 1/25. Get the schedule here.
Fall 2020
…EEB is now recruiting students for 2021. For more information, visit our Prospective Students page.
… Dr. Jessica Light reminds us that October is Domestic Violence Prevention & Awareness Month. Read more about this important topic on the Student Life website and download the event calendar.
…Latest publication in Nature Ecology & Evolution from EEB’s Vaishali Katju in collaboration with the lab of Peter Sarkies, Imperial College, London, UK.
…Fall classes underway August 19. Be safe and check the latest Texas A&M University COVID-19 Updates
…OSOS 2020 workshop videos are now available for replay.
…EEB Fall Seminar Series kicks off August 31.
…The departments of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences and Ecosystem Science & Management have merged. Their new website is up at https://eccb.tamu.edu.
Spring – Summer 2020
…Congratulations to EEB student Mickey Parker! Mickey is a recipient of a Gramm Fellowship and will honored in a ceremony this Fall.
…The Office of Graduate & Professional Studies is requesting nominations for the P.E.O. Scholar Award. This award provides a fellowship of approximately $20,000 to an outstanding female scholar pursuing a doctoral degree. Since 2006, Texas A&M University has had more than 18 winners of this prestigious award! Download/print nomination details here.
URGENT – EEB Black Lives Matter Statement
…Congratulations to our first EEB GRADUATES Dr. Erin Buchholtz and Dr. Kristina Chyn!
… Gil Rosenthal named Texas A&M Science Associate Dean for International Programs
…The departments of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences (WFSC) and Ecosystem Science & Management (ESSM) have merged into the new Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology (ECCB). Website under construction. The other new department is The other new department is called Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management. Website under construction.
May Newsletter
April Newsletter
March Newsletter
February Newsletter
January 2020 Newsletter
October – December 2019
December 2019 Newsletter
November 2019 Newsletter
October 2019 Newsletter
September 2019
EEB/ABS Welcomes New Program Coordinator!
Meet Nick Jacobsen. Nick is is a conservation social scientist who focuses his teaching and research on understanding human-environment interactions.
Please join us in welcoming Nick at the EEB Fall General Meeting on August 26 from 3:30 to 5 pm in Rudder Tower, Room 510.
April – May 2019
. . . Animal Behavior Society awards EEB student Steven Bovio research grant for his proposal titled “Investigating the role of postmating-prezygotic sexual selection in hybridizing swordtails.” Well done, Steven!
. . . Kirk Winemiller, founder of the original EEB program here at TAMU, has been named a Distinguished Professor by the University. This is the highest academic honor at TAMU and well deserved!
. . . Friday, April 26. No journal club this week. Next week will be our last one of the semester.
. . . POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT: Joint Program Coordinator, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Ph.D. Program (EEB) andApplied Biodiversity Science Program (ABS)
. . .EEB student Alyson Brokaw was awarded the prestigious Ernst Mayr Fellowship from Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Alyson was also appointed an STRI Fellow for the summer. She plans to work on bat olfaction at the STRI in Panama this summer. Congratulations, Alyson!
. . . The EEB/ABS Annual Crawfish Boil will be held on Friday, April 12th starting at 6PM. Gil and Rhonda will be hosting this year. Contact Amanda Beckman for details.
. . .Stephen Bovio (EEB student, Rosenthal Lab) will be defending his dissertation proposal this Thursday, April 11 and everyone is invited to attend the public portion of the proposal defense (see info here). His public presentation will be at 2 pm in WFES 411.
January – March 2019
. . . EEB student Amanda Beckman (WFSC) featured in a Houston Chronicle article about her dissertation project work building a genetic profile of Texas’ Rio Grande turkey population.
. . . Congratulations to EEB student Erin Buchholz for receiving the Vice President of Research: Excellence in Research Special Award. See Spotlight.
. . . Read EEB core faculty member and entomologist Anjel Helms‘s new research on insect-killing nematodes that produce distinctive chemical cues to enhance plant defenses and deter Colorado potato beetles. Congratulations, Dr. Helms! https://research.tamu.edu/2019/02/27/13548/
. . . Abstract submissions for this year’s EIS are due March 4.
. . . Congratulations to our newest core faculty member Laura Jurgens!
. . . Annual 2019 Ecological Integration Symposium is coming up April 4th & 5th. Don’t miss a thing!
. . . Congratulations to EEB’s newest Core Faculty member Dr. Christina Belanger! [Related]
October – December 2018
. . . EEB student Zach Hancock (Wicksten Lab) will be defending his dissertation proposal next Friday and everyone is invited to attend the public portion of the defense (flyer attached). His public presentation is Dec 14 at 1:00 pm in WFES 411.
. . . Congratulations to EEB’s newest Core Faculty member Dr. Christina Belanger! [Related]
. . . EEB core faculty member Dr. Anja Schulze (MARB) and her Ph.D. student Candace Grimes attended the third meeting of the Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA III) on the beautiful island of Curaçao. Read more >>
. . . Several paleo-faculty associated with EEB are giving talks/posters at the Geological Society of America annual meeting in Indianapolis November 4-7. Michelle Lawing, Anne Raymond, Christina Belanger and David Bapst and their students will be speaking. See scheduled talks/posters here.
. . . Dr. Kirk Winemiller received the American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence. Dr. Winemiller was also named a 2018 Ecological Society of America fellow.
. . . Agrilife Today: “Dr. Dan Fitzgerald has been awarded the Haldane Prize by the British Ecological Society for his work as lead author of a 2017 paper completed during his time as a doctoral student in the Texas A&M University department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, College Station.”
. . . Latest papers from Winemiller lab.
August – September 2018
. . . Faculty news. Congratulations and welcome to four more new EEB core faculty members: Anna Linderholm (ANTH), Jacqueline Grace (WFSC), Joseph Veldman (ESSM) and Daniel Spalink (ESSM).
. . . Friday, October 5th from 12-2 pm, Jeff Pool (Communications Manager, COALS) will be running a Media Training Workshop for ABS and EEB. The workshop is intended for graduate students, but postdocs and faculty are welcome. Details at the link.
. . . Faculty news. EEB welcomes new core faculty members Kira Delmore (BIOL) and Angel Helms (ENTO); and associate faculty member Heather Thakar (ANTH). Core faculty member Donald Brightsmith (VPB) is now Associate Professor. Welcome and congratulations! Thanks, too, to Spence Behmer, the outgoing chair of EEB. Gil Rosenthal is our new chair.
. . . Executive committee news. Thanks to Spence Behmer, the outgoing chair of EEB. Gil Rosenthal is our new chair. Micky Eubanks is the chair-elect.
. . . Fall 2018, Dr. Jessica Light will hold a 1-credit seminar on Motoo Kimura’s neutral theory. This seminar will be a discussion group with weekly readings. Fridays, 10-11AM in 119 WFES. Topics: Kimura’s paper, papers in the June MBE issue, and other relevant neutral theory papers and book chapters.
. . . Want to learn data analysis and visualization using R? Interested in High-Performance Research Computing? Sign up for OSOS Workshop 2018 August 31 – September 2, ILSB Auditorium.
. . . Heath Blackmon is coordinating a Fall semester reading group: “Evolutionary Theory: Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations.” The book by Sean Rice provides a great overview of the foundational theories that are central to many subfields of evolutionary biology. Complete the Google form or email blackmon@tamu.edu.
May 2018
. . . Latest publication from EEB core faculty member Jessica Light and WFSC colleague Michael Morrison along with EEB-affiliated students Oona Takano and Drew Anderson. [Journal of Mammology, April 2018]
. . . Are you interested in learning about the applications of R software? The ESSM Graduate Student Association is hosting a workshop for ESSM, WFSC, EEB, and ABS graduate students, dedicated to the fundamentals of R. Topics will range from data entry and organization to statistics and data visualization. No previous experience with R is required to attend the workshop. Sign up for one or both sessions on Wednesday, May 2nd in WFSC computer lab room 315.
https://goo.gl/forms/mHuT9UwdN
Please complete the registration form above in order to secure your spot and to let us know what you want to gain from this workshop. This can have direct impact on the lesson plans.
April 2018
. . . It’s that time again! Mark your calendar for Friday, April 27th for the EEB Annual Crawfish Boil! This year we’ll join forces with ABS for their annual social. Get the details here.
. . . Apply now for 2017-18 Graduate Student Travel Awards. $500, $750 and $1,000 awards available.
March 2018
. . . Still time to register for judges and volunteers at EIS 2018!
. . . Mark your calendars for the annual Houston Regional Ecology and Evolution Student Symposium Friday, May 4th at the University of Houston. EEB core faculty member Juliana Rangel (ENTO) is the keynote speaker.
February 2018
. . . EEB Associate Faculty member and Texas A&M Hagler Institute for Advanced Study Faculty Fellow Manfred Schartl is in the news! Dr. Schartl was interviewed on Texas Standard and featured online at BBC for his recent Nature E&E paper on the Amazon molly genome.
. . . The 2018 Ecological Integration Symposium is coming up April 5-6. The call for abstracts is out.
January 2018
. . . New pub by postdoc Sarah Garnick (Perry Barboza lab) et al about body mass and diet quality in macropodids (marsupials). [Journal of Mammology]
. . . Mark your calendars and stay tuned! Darwin Day 2018 is coming up in February!
. . . The new EEB Seminar Series Spring 2018 schedule is up. Mark your calendars!
. . . First day of Spring semester Tuesday classes cancelled due to wintry weather. University offices closed. Essential personnel only. Visit emergency.tamu.edu
. . . The Green Dot Bystander Intervention Training Program is excited to announce dates for the 2018 spring semester! Green Dot teaches Aggie faculty/staff to be aware of potential violence around them and provides the skills, strategies, and tactics to use the power of peer influence to intervene appropriately and safely in high-risk situations. Green Dot will teach you how to become an active bystander when you witness acts of power-based personal violence. You will learn how to recognize situations that lead to violence, common barriers that keep people from taking action, and how to safely intervene in ways that are consistent with your personality and values.
This semester we are offering three trainings for faculty/staff! Registration and training is free!*
*Tuesday, January 09, 8:30 a.m. – noon*
*Monday, March 12, 1:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Wednesday, May 16, 8:30 a.m. – noon*
. . . New article by EEB-affiliated student Angela Hawkins (BIOL) and EEB Core Faculty member Alan Pepper (BIOL) in Genome Biology and Evolution. [Oxford online]
. . . New article in Systematic Biology on brachiopods by EEB Associate Faculty member David Bapst.
December 2017
. . . Faculty and staff Winter Break Dec 25 – Jan 1, 2018
. . . New article in Texas A&M Today on Sarah Hamer‘s (VIBS) work with kissing bugs and Chagas disease.
November 2017
. . . Nice going, EEB-affiliated student Nikki Roach! Read her article in Global Wildlife Conservation titled, “A Day in the Field – Colombia.”
. . . New publication about Siberian reindeer food requirements by EEB Associate Faculty member Perry Barboza in Journal of Mammalogy. [OxfordUP Online]
. . . The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) has announced that Dr. Sarah Hamer, an associate professor in the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS) and an EEB Core Faculty Member, has been named the Richard Schubot Endowed Chair and director of the Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center. Congratulations, Sarah!
. . . New article by EEB core faculty member Gil Rosenthal (BIOL) in Evolution about competitive ability in sheepshead swordtail. [Wiley Online Library]
. . . EEB Associate Faculty member John Oswald (ENTO) has a new article about
evolution of lacewings and allied orders using anchored phylogenomics in Systematic Entomology. [Wiley Online Library]
. . . EEB core faculty member Micky Eubanks (ENTO) has a new article out in Molecular Ecology about colony-level differences in the foraging gene expression in red imported fire ants. [Wiley Online Library]
. . . Accepted manuscript by former student Sarah Flanagan and former faculty member Adam Jones: Substantial differences in bias between single-digest and double-digest RAD-seq libraries: a case study. [Wiley Online Library]
. . . TAMU EEB student Alyson Brokaw quoted in a new National Geographic article on bat communication.
October 2017
. . . New publication from the Wicksten lab with Janelle Goeke from the Armitage lab in Galveston: review of the taxonomy and distribution of an invasive sea anemone with new records from the Texas coast. [Zoo Keys]
. . . New paper in PNAS from Gil Rosenthal ‘s current and former lab members Molly Schumer, Pablo Delclos, Dan Powell, Mattie Squire, Rongfeng Cui, along with Dr. Rosenthal and Princeton’s Peter Andolfatto: Assortative mating and persistent reproductive isolation in hybrids. [Grab the PDF]
August – September 2017
. . . New review of Gil Rosenthal‘s book, Mate Choice: The Evolution of Sexual Decision Making from Microbes to Humans from Science magazine. [Book: WorldCat]
. . . Former student Grace Smarsh and Michael Smotherman of the Smotherman lab have a new publication up in Behavior Ecology and Sociobiology, “Behavioral response to conspecific songs on foraging territories of the heart-nosed bat.” [SpringerLink]
. . . The Fall 2017 EEB Seminar Series kicks off on Monday, Sept 11th at 3:30 pm in Rudder Tower. Dr. Heath Blackmon (BIOL) is first up. He will speak on “The evolution of large scale genome structure.” Don’t miss it!
. . . We hear the Open Source Open Science Workshop, Friday, September 1 was a great success. Congratulations to coordinators Jason Martina and Michelle Lawing, and thanks to all the presenters.
. . . EEB Associate Faculty member Joseph Bernardo (BIOL) helped discover a new species of salamander — the Valentine’s Southern Dusky – hiding in plain sight among what was originally thought to be a common population of the small amphibians. [TAMU College of Science News]
. . . UPDATE: Classes will begin Wednesday, August 30. The university will resume full operation.
. . . August 24 article in Science magazine details a new multi-university, collaborative effort to CT scan thousands of vertebrates held in US museum collections. A team from TAMU (Kevin Conway and Heather Prestridge in WFSC; Sarah Potvin TAMU University Libraries) will be using the CT scanning facilities at the TAMU Vet school (TIPS) to scan “oversize” specimens for the project (e.g., alligator gar).
. . . ALERT: Due to heavy rain and flooding from Hurricane Harvey, Texas A&M University classes are cancelled Monday and Tuesday, August 28 and 29. Essential personnel only. Go to emergency.tamu.edu for more information.
. . . New publication from the Hamer lab and graduate student Alyssa Meyers on Trypanosoma cruzi and prevalence in government working dogs. [PLOS NTD]
. . . Claudio Casola (ESSM) and his postdoc Tomasz Koralewski co-authored the article “The Douglas-Fir Genome Sequence Reveals Specialization of the Photosynthetic Apparatus in Pinaceae”. [G3 Journal]
. . . Dr. Kirk Winemiller (WFSC), doctoral student Caroline Arantes (WFSC), and aquatic ecology lab collaborators Pitagoras Piana (University of Western Paraná, Brazil) and David Hoeinghaus (University of North Texas) attended the International Symposium on Floodpulse Ecosystems in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from July 24-27, 2017. Symposium participants examined biological and socio-economic aspects of flood pulse systems. The symposium, organized by the University of Battambang and Cambodian Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute, promoted exchange of information and knowledge between academics and practitioners for improved ecosystem service and biodiversity outcomes.
. . . Member of the Pepper lab (BIOL) participated in the 2017 Botany meetings in Ft. Worth, Texas.
. . . Micky Eubanks (ENTO) presented at the Hemipteran Plant Interactions Symposium in Madrid, Spain, this summer.
June – July 2017
. . . Congratulations to Gil Rosenthal on his new book, Mate Choice: The Evolution of Sexual Decision Making From Microbes to Humans! [WorldCat]
. . . New publication from the Wicksten lab in the Journal of Crustacean Biology: Feeding on cnidarians by giant pycnogonids in the North Central Pacific and North Atlantic oceans. The note reports that cnidarians, including solitary hydroids and a coronate medusa, likely compose a primary food source for sea spiders (Pycnogonida). The behavior was observed by an ROV.
. . . Incoming EEB faculty Heath Blackmon (BIOL) featured on the Genetics Society of America Genes to Genomes blog. Welcome, Heath!
. . . Way to go PhD student Rachael Glazner! Rachael is one of 21 graduate students who received funding from the Texas Sea Grant’s Grants-In-Aid of Graduate Research Program.
. . . Bill Murphy (VIBS) was recently involved in some hot snow leopard research: Range-Wide Snow Leopard Phylogeography Supports Three Subspecies.
. . . Congrats again to Bill Rogers (ESSM), this time for funding. Bill and his Co-PIs have received $369,311 in funding from the USDA Joint Fire Sciences Program for a three-year proposal entitled “Pyrogenic controls on grass-shrub persistence in the Great Plains” commencing September 2017. His Co-PIs in this effort include ESSM colleagues, Drs. Katy Kavanagh, Morgan Russell, and Sascha Lodge; University of Nebraska-Lincoln collaborators, Drs. Dirac Twidwell and Carissa Wonkka (both former TAMU EBB-affiliated graduate students); and federal cooperator, Dr. Matt Dickinson with the USFS-Northern Research Station. This proposal was fully funded by the panel despite a late and unexpected 30% reduction in JFSP’s federal budget and subsequent decrease in awards distributed. Field research for these studies will be conducted at the Sonora AgriLife Savanna Research Station located on the Edwards Plateau in West Central Texas and at the Loess Canyon Rangeland Alliance properties in southwestern Nebraska.
. . . Kristina Chyn (WFSC) was recently awarded the Friends of Sunset Zoo Conservation Grant from the Sunset Zoo in Manhattan, Kansas. Congratulations! Here’s Kristina holding a Stejneger’s Bamboo pitviper (Trimeresurus stejnegeri), found while road cruising for herps in Nantou County, Taiwan.
. . . Check out this recent coverage of Jessica Yorzinski‘s work on peafowls!
. . . Congratulations are in order for Bill Rogers (ESSM). Bill was awarded the student-nominated Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management for the 2017-2018 academic year. Congrats, Bill!
. . . Congrats to Joseph Bernardo (BIOL) and colleagues on their new paper in Zootaxa: A new species of dusky salamander (Amphibia: Plethodontidae: Desmognathus) from the Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain of the United States and a redescription of D. auriculatus.
May 2017
. . . New work out of the Conway lab (WFSC): Molecular systematics of the New World clingfish genus Gobiesox (Teleostei: Gobiesocidae) and the origin of a freshwater clade. [ScienceDirect]
. . .Veterinary pathobiology Professor Donald Brightsmith oversees activities at the Tambopata Macaw Project in Peru. Nice work, Don!
April 2017
. . .Congratulations! Dr. Thomas Lacher, Jr. (WFSC) recently was the recipient of a Dr. Kenneth Clinton International Study Abroad Educations Program Award. These are awarded TAMU system-wide and were presented at a ceremony at Texas A&M-Commerce on April 20th.
. . .Congratulations to Whitney Preisser (Light lab, WFSC), recipient of a Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant from the American Museum of Natural History.
. . .New paper out of the Light & Voelker labs (WFSC): An Assessment of Host Associations, Geographic Distributions, and Genetic Diversity of Avian Chewing Lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from Benin. [BioOne]
. . .Recent work by Kevin Conway (WFSC) covered in a University of Washington press release: New many-toothed clingfish discovered with help of digital scans.
. . .Congrats to Carolyn Hodo (VIBS; @DrHodo) & Charlayn Cammarata (WFSC; @CharlaynaC)! Recipients of the Wildlife Disease Association Grad Student Fellowships!
. . .New research out of the Voelker lab (WFSC) led by PhD student Jerry Huntley: A tale of the nearly tail-less: the effects of Plio-Pleistocene climate change on the diversification of the African avian genus Sylvietta. [Wiley Online Library]
. . .Check out how ENTO’s Gabe Hamer is helping to continue the fight against mosquito-borne viruses with several new grants totaling $3.5 million.
. . .Light lab (WFSC) has a new Web site covering louse population genetics research. Check it out!
. . .More grasshopper genitalia at Gizmodo! http://gizmodo.com/scientists-froze-some-grasshoppers-mid-b…
. . .Remember that awesome paper about grasshopper genitalia by Derek Woller and Hojun Song (ENTO)? The Entomological Society of America recently covered it in their publication Entomology Today.
. . .Bet you didn’t think you could learn about cetacean reproductive organs from EEB faculty (Marshall, TAMUG)! Patterns of cetacean vaginal folds yield insights into functionality. [PLOS]
March 2017
. . . Another great conference for the 2017 Ecological Integration Symposium. The plenary session videos are up for viewing.
. . . Check out the new research article published by Dr. Kevin Conway, Curator of Fishes at the Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections and co-authored by his grad student, Kole Matthew Kubicek. [Wiley Online Library]
. . . Loads of EEB authors (ENTO, VIBS) on this new pub about crane parasites at Science Direct.
. . . Congrats Jessica Yorzinski (WFSC) on newly published research in Journal of Experimental Biology. Also, see the press releases at US News and Texas A&M Today.
. . . Congrats to the Song (ENTO) lab! Really cool stuff led by PhD student Derek Woller in Journal of Morphology: Investigating the functional morphology of genitalia during copulation in the grasshopper Melanoplus rotundipennis via correlative microscopy. [Wiley Online Library]
. . . Congratulations to Dr. Bill Murphy (VIBS), who is a member of the inaugural class of Presidential Impact Fellows! This award comes with a lot of perks & is well deserved. [Texas A&M Today]
February 2017
. . . Check out the photographs and write-up on Michelle Lawing’s field trip to Mexico with some of her students.
. . . More great coverage of Michelle Lawing (ESSM) and her research program at Texas A&M Today.
. . . Congratulations to ENTO’s Spencer Behmer! He just completed his term as vice chair for Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) on Plant-Herbivore Interactions. He now takes over as Chair for the 2019 conference.
. . . New research out of the Smotherman lab (BIOL): Suppression of emission rates improves sonar performance by flying bats. [Nature]
. . . Michelle Lawing (ESSM) just published some pretty cool work as part of an power-packed collaborative team: Merging paleobiology with conservation biology to guide the future of terrestrial ecosystems. [Science]
. . . TAMU EEB Darwin Day is coming Sunday February 19th 3-6 pm in the Bethancourt Ballroom 2300C at the Memorial Student Center. Festivities include kids zone, art exhibit, screening of “Darwin’s Struggle” and a panel discussion. Admission is free and open to all. Grab the flyer and share widely!
. . . EEB will be hosting a recruiting event on February 19-21 for prospective Ph.D. students. Travel grants are available to cover the cost of airfare, hotel accommodations, and meals. Please click here for more details.
. . . Michelle Lawing (ESSM) just published some pretty cool work as part of an power-packed collaborative team: Merging paleobiology with conservation biology to guide the future of terrestrial ecosystems [ScienceMag]
. . . New work published by ichthyology curator Kevin Conway. Molecular phylogenetics of New World searobins (Triglidae; Prionotinae) [ScienceDirect]
. . . New work out of the Sarah Hamer (VIBS) lab: Epidemiology and Molecular Typing of Trypanosoma cruzi in Naturally-Infected Hound Dogs and Associated Triatomine Vectors in Texas, USA [PLOS One]
. . . New Winemiller, Keppeler (WFSC) pub: Is There a Relationship between Fish Cannibalism and Latitude or Species Richness? [PLOS One]
. . . Congratulations are in order! EEB Core Faculty Member Tom Lacher (WSFC) received the Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for International Involvement at the recent Texas A&M AgriLife Conference. Congrats, Tom!
January 2017
. . . EEB will be hosting a recruiting event on February 19-21 for prospective Ph.D. students. Travel grants are available to cover the cost of airfare, hotel accommodations, and meals. Please click here for more details.
. . . Would you like to be a judge for EIS 2017? We invite faculty and postdoctoral researchers to register as judges for student talk and poster presentations. Deadline is March 4. Go to the website and click on Judge Registration or go directly to the online form.
. . . New pub out of the Jones lab (BIOL): Genome-wide selection components analysis in a fish with male pregnancy. [Wiley Online]
. . . Congrats to the Bergthorsson & Katju labs for their new pub in Molecular Biology and Evolution. This research examines mtDNA spontaneous mutation rates and spectra in C. elegans. [Oxford Journals]
. . . TALKING IN TURN: Texas A&M Department of Biology Professor Mike Smotherman and doctoral candidate Samantha Trent explore the phenomenon on how bats suppress their own calls when other bats are calling. (Via Houston Chronicle)
. . . Congrats to Jeff Tomberlin (ENTO) named Faculty Fellow at Texas A&M AgriLife conference. [AgriLife Today]
. . . Looking to learn more about weird deep-sea shrimp? Check this out about recently published work by Mary Wicksten (BIOL). [ZooKeys paper] [Oxford University Museum of Natural History blog and video]
. . . Recent Winemiller (WFSC) lab publication (led by Chouly Ou and Carmen Montana): Body size–trophic position relationships among #fishes of the lower Mekong basin. [Royal Society]
. . . Congrats to TAMU alumnus Gage Dayton, appointed to the Wilton W. Webster Jr. Presidential Chair for the UC Santa Cruz Natural Reserves.
December 2016
. . . An oldie but goodie: Otter bite force research by Lori Timm-Davis, Thom Dewitt, and Chris Marshall covered by Laelaps (Brian Switek) [Scientific American]
. . . Schalk, Montana, Winemiller, and Fitzgerald (WFSC): Trophic plasticity, environmental gradients and food-web structure of tropical pond communities [Wiley Online]
. . . Share with your friends: Wildland Fire Science Assistant/Associate Prof in ESSM [GreatJobs at TAMU]
. . . Check out this interview of PhD student Grace Smarsh (BIOL) in BATS Magazine & learn all about her #bat research funded by Bat Conservation International #BCI. Nice work, Grace! [Bat Conservation International]
. . . New pub out of the Hamer labs (ENTO and VIBS): Haemosporida prevalence and diversity are similar in endangered wild whooping cranes (Grus americana) and sympatric sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis). This research supports the surrogate species approach for infectious disease research in an endangered species. [Cambridge Core]
. . . New pub from Tyler Raszick and Hojun Song (ENTO) – The ecotype paradigm: Testing the concept in an ecologically divergent grasshopper [ResearchGate]
. . . Big ENTO publication (Deans, Behmer, Sword): Spatio-Temporal, Genotypic, and Environmental Effects on Plant Soluble Protein and Digestible Carbohydrate Content: Implications for Insect Herbivores with Cotton as an Exemplar [SpringerLink]
. . . Congrats to Kristina Chyn (WFSC) recipient of a 2017 Australian Endeavour Research Fellowship. Read more about the Fellowship.
. . . New paper on the evolutionary origin of flatfish asymmetry by Manfred Schartl (BIOL) and colleagues. Check out the press release.
. . . Handbook of Mammals of the World – Volume 6 Lagomorphs and Rodents I is out with several TAMUEEB authors including Tom Lacher (WFSC), Bill Murphy (VIBS), Jordan Rogan (WFSC), and Jessica Gilbert (WFSC) [LynxEds]
. . . New fish paper in MPE by Kevin Conway (WFSC) and colleagues: Molecular phylogenetics of New World searobins (Triglidae; Prionotinae) [ScienceDirect]
. . . Carolyn Hodo (S Hamer lab; VIBS) presented her research on lesions and poxviruses at the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Nice job, Carolyn! [photo]
November 2016
. . . Rosenthal (BIOL) new publication out! Digest: Mechanisms of assortative mating and ecological speciation [Wiley Online]
. . . New research out of Jim Derr’s lab! Mitochondrial Genome Analysis Reveals Historical Lineages in Yellowstone Bison [PLOS]
. . . New Voelker lab (WFSC) pub – Nice work Johanna and Gary! Diversity and distribution of avian haemosporidians in sub-Saharan Africa: an inter-regional biogeographic overview [Cambridge Press]
. . . Former ENTO Grad Student Chong Chin Heo (Tomberlin student) Receives Major Research Award from Malaysian Government.
. . . Mark your calendars! Dr. Mary Wicksten (BIOL) will be giving a free public lecture Thursday November 17th at the Brazos Valley of Natural History. This lecture opens the new exhibit “Shells: The Elegant Armor of Mollusks,” on display November 17-March 18. Following the lecture, there will be an opening reception feature wine, appetizers, and gallery viewing. Go check it out!
. . . The new Forest Robins are still causing a stir!
. . . The Aggie Research Leadership Program (ARLP) is holding an information session for graduate students and postdocs interested in leading teams of undergraduates engaged in a collaborative research project. As a member of ARLP, you will gain mentoring and management experience for industry or academic careers while increasing your research productivity. You can also earn certification and title for your CV as an Aggie Research Leader. Teams are being formed now for the Spring semester. To learn more about program: AggieResearch.tamu.
. . . New publication from Ron Eytan: Phylogenomic analysis of carangimorph fishes reveals flatfish asymmetry arose in a blink of the evolutionary eye. [BioMed Central]
October 2016
. . . Coverage of Michelle Lawing‘s Italy study abroad class. In Italian!
. . . Updated PhD Program Application Procedure is up on the website.
. . . New ENTO-related research by Spence Behmer, Greg Sword and others: Spatio-Temporal, Genotypic, and Environmental Effects on Plant Soluble Protein and Digestible Carbohydrate Content: Implications for Insect Herbivores with Cotton as an Exemplar. [Springer]
. . . Check out Dr. Chris Marshall (TAMU-Galveston) on faculty development leave at the Smithsonian undertaking research on the evolution of feeding in stem and extant pinnipeds. Cool work!
. . . Congrats Sarah Flanagan, Emily Rose, and Adam Jones! New paper in Molecular Ecology: Population genomics reveals multiple drivers of population differentiation in a sex-role-reversed pipefish. [Wiley Online Library]
. . . Parasites for the win! Check out this blog post from the Smithsonian about PhD student Whitney Preisser‘s research.
Congratulations to PhD student Carolyn Hodo and other EEBers on their recent publication Trypanosome species, including Trypanosoma cruzi, in sylvatic and peridomestic bats of Texas. [ScienceDirect]
PhD student Carolyn Hodo (S Hamer lab; VIBS) presenting her research on lesions and poxviruses at the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Nice job, Carolyn!
September 2016
. . . Check out this article about Jessica Light in Conservation Matters.
. . . EEB faculty, students, and postdoc have a new pub: Decreased small mammal and on-host tick abundance in association with invasive red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta). Nice work, Jessica Light, Sarah Hamer, Adrian Castellanos, Gabe Hamer and Micky Eubanks! [Biology Letters] [AgriLife Today]
. . . Check out this great list of potential women seminar speakers. Women should feel free to add themselves to this list.
. . . Who likes microbes? If you like ’em, consider joining the new TAMU Microbiota Research Interest Group. Mark your calendars for the TAMU VPR and uBiota-RIG sponsored “Microbiota Open Forum” November 8th, 1PM in the MSC.
. . . EEB alumni hard at work: Dr. Chris Schalk is launching a crowdfunding campaign at Sam Houston State University to fund a specimen-based research project examining the diversification patterns in leaf-litter geckos. Also, see the campaign website.
. . . Congrats to Dr. Bill Rogers (ESSM)! Bill has been recently appointed to the Texas Department of Agriculture Prescribed Burning Board (PBB). The PBB sets standards for prescribed burning and develops comprehensive training curriculum for the certification of prescribed burn managers and instructors across the state of Texas. The PBB is composed of members dedicated to the preservation of Texas’s vast and unique ecosystems. Representatives of state agencies or institutions of higher education are chosen or appointed by the agency that they represent. Private landowners are appointed by the Commissioner of Agriculture. Read more about the Prescribed Burn Program.
. . . New paper out of Greg Sword’s lab (ENTO) led by PhD student Wenqing Zhou. This research describes how the presence of a single strain of endophytic fungi within a plant can affect interactions with a number of different invertebrate herbivores feeding in different ways on both the roots and leaves of plants. [FEMS Microbiology Ecology]
. . . Look who made the cover of Journal of Heredity! Emily Rose, a recent PhD student in the Adam Jones lab. Emily’s work examines the phylogenetic position of a morphologically distinct, anchialine-lake-restricted seahorse using genetic data. [Journal of Heredity]
. . . Post-doc position of potential interest at Virginia Commonwealth University
. . . Job in ESSM in forest biology
August 2016
. . . Nice work Ron Eytan! Ron was a key member of the team of this recently published work in Science Advances [Science] about the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. [Today at Texas A&M]
. . . Congratulations to PhD candidate Grace Smarsh (Smotherman lab)! She received 1st place for student talks at the International Bat Research Conference in Durban, South Africa. Grace’s presentation was on Territorial Singing in the African Heart-Nosed Bat. As part of the award, she received a Pettersson D500x bat recorder with microphone (nice!)
. . . We have a new EEB Facebook Page! The new page will slowly phase out the current EEB Facebook Group. Head over and “Like” us!
. . . EEB has a new program coordinator: Jason Martina. Welcome, Jason!
. . . EEB PhD Defense: Dan Fitzgerald (Winemiller lab) will be defending his dissertation research on community assembly dynamics of rapids-adapted fishes of the Xingu River. Mark your calendars! Friday August 26th, 10AM. 213 Nagle Hall.
. . . Don’t miss the 2016 OSOS Workshop August 26 – 28. Sign up now at GoogleDocs!
. . . From Jeffery Tomberlin: Congrats Adrienne Brundage and Jason Byrd on a nice publication, “Forensic Entomology in Animal Cruelty Cases.” [Veterinary Pathology]
. . . More from EEB faculty in AgriLife newsletters. Fint out what Gabe Hamer (ENTO) is doing to learn more about Zika virus.
. . . Greg Sword’s (ENTO) work with microbes and cotton seeds was highlighted in 8/1 AgriLife Today.
. . . And another great paper from Michelle Lawing out in Ecography. Community functional trait composition at the continental scale: the effects of non-ecological processes. [Wiley Online Library]
. . . New publication for Michelle Lawing: Including Fossils in Phylogenetic Climate Reconstructions: A Deep Time Perspective on the Climatic Niche Evolution and Diversification of Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus) [American Naturalist]
. . . Congrats to Gabe Hamer on his recent publication about the relationships among the size of the mosquito control community, research output, and the burden of human mosquito-borne disease. [Oxford Journals]
. . . EEB dissertation defense coming up! Rachel Curtis-Robles defends Tuesday August 2nd, 1 – 2 pm in VRB room 423: “Eco-epidemiology of Trypanosoma in Texas: Kissing bug vectors and Chagas disease in canines and wildlife”
July 2016
. . . Congrats to Georgianne Moore! Her lab has recently had a publication accepted about their work in Costa Rica at the TAMU Soltis Center: “Comparison of tree transpiration under wet and dry canopy conditions in a Costa Rican premontane tropical forest. Hydrological Processes” [Wiley Online Library]
. . . New publication for postdoc Isabel Caballero! “Sex in the City: Breeding Behavior of Urban Peregrine Falcons in the Midwestern US” [PLOS] [UPI press release]
. . . Entomology student Derek Woller (Hojun Song lab) is in the news: Grad Student Assists In Rediscovery of Grasshopper Species Not Seen in Almost 60 Years. [TAMU Entomology]
. . . Congrats to Darcie Ryan and Lisa Campbell! They have a paper in press in Journal of Phycology: Identification and phylogeny of putative PEPC genes in three toxin-producing Karenia (Dinophyta) species [Wiley Online Library]
. . . New publication for Jessica Light: “Effects of 16S rDNA sampling on estimates of number of endosymbiont lineages in sucking lice.” [PeerJ]
. . . Congratulations to Nicole F. Angeli for receiving the SSAR Henri Siebert Award for best student presentation in the category of conservation. Well deserved!
. . . From Grace Smarsh: Hey EEBers! We are excited that our review, “The origins and diversity of bat songs,” is finally out! [Springer]
June 2016
. . . We’ll be changing the look of the website over the summer, so bear with the construction.
. . . The 2016 OSOS Workshop will be held August 26 – 28. Sign up here.
. . . New paper by Friedrich Wolfgang Keppeler on the influence of protected areas on fish assemblages and fisheries in the Tapajós River, in the Brazilian Amazon. [Oryx]
. . . From Jeffery Tomberlin and the F.L.I.E.S. Facility: Congratulations to Brandon Lyons on successfully publishing his MS research. Another great collaboration with Dr TC Crippen!!
“Susceptibility of Alphitobius diaperinus in Texas to permethrin and β-cyfluthrin treated surfaces” in Pest Management Science.
. . . And more from Ben Wu! Ben was a member of the committee that developed a new report of the National Academies “Barriers and Opportunities for 2-Year and 4-Year STEM Degrees: Systemic Change to Support Students’ Diverse Pathways.” [National Academies Press]
May 2016
. . . The 2016 OSOS Workshop will be held August 26 – 28. Sign up here.
. . . Did you know that our own Dr. Mary Wicksten (BIOL) is studying deep-sea crustaceans living at 200-3000m as commensal associates of soft corals and deep-sea sponges? Photographed by the remotely operated vehicle “Deep Discoverer” from the ship “Okeanos Explorer,” these photographs and video footage are sent via satellite to interested researchers on shore. With her colleague Dr. Keiji Baba of Japan, Dr. Wicksten is describing six new species from the Gulf of Mexico. Learn more.
. . . Congratulations to Chris Schalk on another publication: “Predator-induced phenotypic plasticity in an arid-adapted tropical tadpole.” Check it out here.
. . . Congratulations to Raul F. Medina (ENTO)! He was asked to join a National Academy of Sciences Committee that was formed as a response to the White House mandate to modernize the US coordinated regulatory framework (i.e., USDA, FDA and EPA). Learn more by checking out these links here and here.
. . . Congratulations to Dr. Ben Wu in ESSM! Ben recently received a 2016 Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching. Learn more about Ben and his research and teaching.
. . . Oona Takano (Jessica Light lab) has a new paper out describing an extinct snipe species. Check it out here.
. . . Recent pub from PhD candidate Rachel Curtis-Robles and Sarah Hamer about Trypanosoma cruzi in wildlife: High Trypanosoma cruzi infection prevalence associated with minimal cardiac pathology among wild carnivores in central Texas
. . . New paper by Gary Voelker and Kevin Conway on bird taxonomy
. . . Successful non-native fish originate from more diverse regions. #bioticresistance #invasivespecies @danny__fitz Michi Tobler
. . . New paper out of the Jessica Light lab! Phylogeographic assessment of the northern pygmy mouse, Baiomys taylori
. . . New paper out of the Voelker lab, lead author PhD student Jerry Huntley: Cryptic diversity in Afro-tropical lowland forests: The systematics and biogeography of the avian genus Bleda
April 2016
. . . April 29th/30th is turning out to be busy. BioBlitz (sponsored by Texas A&M’s Society for Conservation Biology) and a Nature walk at Astin Recreational Area (sponsored by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Latinos and Native Americans in Science). Check them out!
. . . This issue of Nutritional Ecology in the Journal of Animal Ecology may be of interest. Editorial written by Associate Editor and Chair of EEB Spencer Behmer.
. . . Congratulations to PhD student Kristina C. Chyn from Lee Fitzgerald‘s lab! She will be a Fulbright doctoral fellow in Taiwan for the 2016-2017 academic year.
. . . In case you missed it, Jeffery Tomberlin gave a TAMU TedX (TEDxTAMU) talk. Hopefully we’ll be able to see it online soon!
. . . Don’t miss the 4th Annual EEB Spring Social and Crawfish Boil – Saturday, April 23 at 5 pm! Click here for more information.
. . . Lots of great work coming out of Jeffery Tomberlin’s FLIES Facility: this one is with Adrrienne Brundage (PhD research) and TC Crippen
March 2016
. . . Mark your calendar! The 17th Annual Ecological Integration Symposium starts March 31st!
. . . Friday March 4 at 11:59 pm is the deadline to submit abstracts for EIS!
. . . Congratulations to WFSC PhD student Whitney Preisser! She recently received a Willis A. Reid graduate research grant award from the American Society of Parasitologists and a travel grant from the Macroecology of Infectious Disease Research Coordination Network, funded by a joint NSF/ NIH/ USDA grant. Congrats, Whitney!
. . . New pub out of the Vaishali Katju and Ulfar Bergthorsson labs in BMC Genomics: Rapid increase in frequency of gene copy-number variants during experimental evolution in Caenorhbditis elegans. Check it out here.
. . . Popular take on otter morphometrics: feeding kinematics (crushing bite!) makes otters cute. Recent work by Lori Timm-Davis, Thom DeWitt and Chris Marshall published in PLoS One. Find it here.
. . . More recent work by Bill Rogers, EEB affiliated student Carissa Wonkkat, and WFSC researchers Bill Grant and Rose Wang: Range expansion of invasive shrubs: implication for crown fire risk in forestlands of the southern United States. In press at Annals of Botany-Plants
February 2016
. . . Ed Vargo in ENTO has some new publications out! Unrelated secondary reproductives in the neotropical termite Silvestritermes euamignathus (Isoptera: Termitidae) http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00114-015-1325-0
AND
New Introductions, Spread of Existing Matrilines, and High Rates of Pyrethroid Resistance Result in Chronic Infestations of Bed Bugs (Cimex lectularius L.) in Lower-Income Housing http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article…
. . . Don’t miss International Darwin Day! Friday, February 12th in Rudder Tower. Get the flyer and schedule..
. . . Don’t let the bed bugs bite! EEB faculty Johnston & Vargo involved in sequencing the bed bug genome. [Here and here] Related
. . . Chris Schalk recently had a paper published in Austral Ecology on the calling of the frogs he studies in Bolivia. Results from this study suggest that calling activity of tropical frogs is the product of both abiotic variables and species reproductive modes. Ribbit, ribbit! (Photo: Automated recording device used to record the frog calls.)
January 2016
. . . Work by Dr. Bill Rogers and his lab is in the news: “Increased legal liabilities limit prescribed fire use for brush control.”
. . . Congratulations to Sarah Flanagan (PhD student in the Jones lab). She recently accepted a 2-yr postdoc (beginning September 1) at the National Institute of Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Congrats Sarah!
. . . Kirk Winemiller leads a Science Mag Policy Forum (member firewalled) on “Balancing hydropower and biodiversity in the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong”
. . . Happy 2016, folks! The Jeffery Tomberlin Lab has been tearing it up this month. Check out their latest publication, “Association of Myianoetus muscarum (Acari: Histiostomatidae) With Synthesiomyia nudiseta (Wulp) (Diptera: Muscidae) on Human Remains.”
November, December 2015
. . . Congrats to PhD student Grace Smarsh, co-recipient of the Acoustical Society of America best student paper award in Animal Bioacoustics! She won the award at the annual meeting in Jacksonville, FL, for her presentation titled: “Singing away from home: Song is used to create and defend foraging territories in the African megadermatid bat, Cardioderma cor”
. . . New out of Dr. William Murphy‘s lab in Genome Research: Phylogenomic evidence for ancient hybridization in the genomes of living cats (Felidae).
. . . Apply Now for a PhD in EEB! (Deadline: December 15th)
. . . New Chagas paper out of the Hamer Lab! Lead author is PhD student Rachel Curtis-Robles and this paper focuses on the use of citizen science in disease ecology research in Texas. Congrats!
. . . EEB students Margot Wood, Kelsey Neam, Jess Gilbert and faculty Tom Lacher completed 2-year EarthWatch grant on conservation corridors in Costa Rica.
. . . EEB student Emma Gomez-Ruiz received the 2015 NAPPC Pollinator Advocate – Mexico award! Implementing on-the-ground conservation in the real world where people, policy, economics, and environments interact requires a deeper understanding of the human component that can make or break a program. Emma has struck the right balance with her work on the Mexican long-nose bat. Not only is her work reaching across political and regulatory boundaries as she uncovers the keys to conserving nesting habitats for pollinating bats – she’s also been able to get the attention of party goers and happy hour aficionados because without bats there won’t be any tequila. Salud Emma!
. . . Dr. Kirk Winemiller, Regents Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences recently presented the opening plenary lecture at the 1st Costa Rican Congress and 4th Latin American Symposium of Ichthyology held in San José, Costa Rica from 2-5 November. The talk, “Functional traits, convergent evolution, and periodic tables of niches,” summarized ideas about convergent evolution and niche schemes that appeared in a recent paper published in Ecology Letters. Dr. Winemiller also taught a pre-conference course on food web ecology to 17 registrants at the University of Costa Rica campus in San José (see photo).
September, October 2015
. . . Apply Now for a PhD in EEB! (Deadline: December 15th)
. . . Congratulations to Dr. Mary Wicksten on her new book, Vertical Reefs [public library]!
The only book on this subject, Dr. Wicksten looks at the thousands of oil platforms off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana and the important role they play in the lives of underwater species who find food, shelter, and permanent homes in the ecosystem created by these big, three-dimensional structures standing on the flat sea floor. They may also play lesser-known roles “above the waves” in the migration of birds and even insects.
. . . New publication out of the Jones Lab, led by PhD students Emily Rose and Sarah Flanagan: The Effects of Synthetic Estrogen Exposure on the Sexually Dimorphic Liver Transcriptome of the Sex-Role-Reversed Gulf Pipefish (exposure to synthetic estrogen induces feminization). Congrats!
. . . PhD candidate Miranda Bertram has a new publication examining the coccodia parasites in endangered whooping cranes. In this research, Miranda and her colleagues show that understanding the epidemiology of coccidiosis is important for management efforts to increase population growth of this endangered species.
. . . Congratulations to M.S. student Oona Takano! Her first first-authored research paper has been published. This research uses fossils to describe a new extinct bird species from Hispaniola.
. . . Doctoral student Rachel Curtis is this year’s recipient of the James Gus Foyle Memorial Scholarship from the Texas Mosquito Control Association. Congratulations, Rachel!
. . . Dr. Michelle Lawing receives Montague-Center for Teaching Excellence Award … more
. . . EEB names Dr. Patricia Baião as new Program Coordinator.
. . . Congratulations to EEB faculty member Darryl de Ruiter for his involvement in the discovery of a new species of Homo naledi in the Dinaledi chamber, South Africa. (BBC.com, The Atlantic, The Eagle, Texas A&M Today, PBS Video)
. . . Dr. Jason West, an associate professor of Ecosystem Science and Management, will represent Texas A&M University as a Fulbright Scholar in France during the 2015-2016 academic year.
