Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Doctoral Program

Spotlight: Daniel Spalink

Daniel Spalink is EEB’s newest Core Faculty member and an Assistant Professor of Plant Systematics in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Texas A&M University and Director of the S.M. Tracy Herbarium (TAES).

Daniel received his Ph.D. from the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied the ecological and biogeographical diversification of the sedge family, Cyperaceae. He then conducted a postdoc at UW-Madison, where he studied the biogeography and diversification of the orchid family (Orchidaceae) and the spatial structure of phylogenetic diversity in the Wisconsin flora. Before joining the faculty at Texas A&M University, Daniel conducted a second postdoc at the University of Utah, where he studied the genomic structure of phylogenetic discordance in the pepper tribe, Capsiceae.

Welcome Daniel!

Dr. Anja Schulze and student attend GIGA III in Curacao

EEB core faculty member Dr. Anja Schulze (Associate Professor, Marine Biology, Texas A&M University Galveston Campus) and her Ph.D. student Candace Grimes recently attended the third meeting of the Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA III) on the beautiful island of Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles. Not a bad place for a conference!

Candace used the opportunity to collect some of her study organisms on the local coral reefs. She will be examining the microbiomes of bearded fireworms (Hermodice carunculata) and some of the corals they eat to determine whether the worms could potentially be vectors for coral diseases. Fireworms tend to be abundant at disturbed reef sites throughout the eastern and western Atlantic. Although their feeding activity is likely not a primary factor in reef decline, it may accelerate the process and slow recovery.

Candace and Anja are also interested in the environmental tolerances of fireworms, specifically to oxygen depletion. At the GIGA III meeting, Candace presented some of her ongoing work on differential gene expression in H. carunculata in response to experimental exposure to different oxygen levels.

Visit Dr. Schulze’s lab Website to learn more about her research and students.

Spotlight: Leila Siciliano-Martina

Student Spotlight:  Leila Siciliano-Martina is a third year PhD student interested in evolutionary changes in the morphology of mammal species due to anthropogenic drivers. She has a masters degree in zoology from Michigan State University, where she studied maternal relationships and stress behaviors in captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis).

Spotlight: Kira Delmore

Faculty Spotlight:  Kira Delmore joined the faculty of Biology in September 2018 and is a new core faculty member of EEB. Dr. Delmore obtained her BSCH, MA and PhD at universities in Canada before spending 3 years as a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in northern Germany. Her research is motivated by understanding where diversity originated in the natural world and how it is maintained. She is inspired by the varied ways in which hybrid zones can be used to understand this topic.

Spotlight: Chris Holland

Chris Holland, Dr. Gil Rosenthal’s most recent PhD graduate, just landed a super postdoc on the evolution of domestication in salmon in Mike Blouin’s lab at Oregon State University. Congratulations, Chris!

At Texas A&M, the focus of Dr. Holland’s dissertation was identifying and studying pheromone communication in the naturally hybridizing swordtail fish, Xiphophorus birchmanni and malinche and their hybrid’s, in Dr. Gil Rosenthal’s lab. The goals of his project were to identify the location of pheromone production in male Xiphophorus and characterize interspecific differences in the chemistry of pheromone signals. Quantifying pheromone chemistry enabled me to assess signal variation among species and among populations and to directly test the role of pheromones as mechanisms of reproductive isolation. At Oregon State University, he studies selection on behavioral and physiological traits in hatchery in salmon and the evolution of domestication.