Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Doctoral Program

Spotlight: Spence Behmer

Spence Behmer is a professor in the Department of Entomology at TAMU, and the outgoing chair of EEB.

Dr. Behmer heads the Insect Physiology & Behavior Research Group (IPBRG), which studies insect physiology and behavior, including their ecological and evolutionary bases with an emphasis on using individual behavior as a tool to understand physiological and higher-level processes. The group uses a number of different insects in their research, including grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, Drosophila, and insects with sucking mouthparts (hemipterans).

Learn more about Dr. Behmer and the Behmer Lab at https://behmerlab.tamu.edu/

Spotlight: Megan Exnicios

Megan Exnicios graduated with a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a minor in Marine Biology from Tulane University.

Megan joined the Rosenthal Lab in the fall of 2016. She is broadly interested in animal behavior and the role behavior plays in mate choice. Finding a mate involves making decisions that can affect the fitness of the mating individual and the resulting offspring, and many factors come into play. She aims to look at one particular factor, the role that individual personality plays in making these decisions and the consequences. Do bold individuals tend to choose mates that are also bold, or do they prefer timid mates? She will be using two species of live-bearing freshwater fish – Xiphophorus malinche and X. birchmanni – and their hybrids to explore the effects of personality in mating preference.

Find out more about Megan at the Rosenthal Lab Web site.

Spotlight: David Bapst

David Bapst is a Lecturer in the Department of Geology & Geophysics and an EEB Associate Faculty member.

Dr. Bapst is an analytical paleobiologist, focusing on evolutionary relationships in the fossil record, date when lineages diverge from each other, and relationships among extinct organisms to say something about evolutionary processes in deep time.

He works on whatever group of organism is best for a particular question (because every fossil record is different), so his research includes everything from living brachiopods to fossil birds.

Find out more about Dr. Bapst at his department faculty Web page.

Spotlight: Zach Hancock

Zachary Hancock is a first year PhD student who received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University-Texarkana. There, his research focused on the ecology and distribution of littoral freshwater microcrustacea of the Suborder Cladocera.

He has a particular interest in the phenotypic response to environmental cues displayed by certain daphniids (cyclomorphosis). He is broadly interested in the evolution and phylogenetics of the branchiopods and malacostracans.

See Zach’s ResearchGate page.

Spotlight: Josh Perkin

Josh Perkin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Texas State University-San Marcos and Ph.D. from Kansas State University. His research focus is freshwater fish ecology and conservation, with emphasis on riverine landscapes, reproductive ecology of fishes, and the effects of drought on fish populations and communities. Recent research projects include effects of groundwater depletion on Great Plains stream fish communities, prioritizing native fish reintroductions into Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and conservation planning based on linking fish traits to riverscape alterations such as land use change and stream impoundment.