Research highlight: lizard team publishes natural history note (Colin Donihue et al.)There is a fascinating population of Italian Wall Lizards living in Boston's Fenway Gardens. Even during the height of the pandemic, members of the Lizard Team were able to do some fieldwork observing and tracking the lizard population at this novel site for the species. In the first of several publications the team is leading from this time, we recently published a Natural History Note in Herpetological Review describing a couple of instances of avian predation observed: a hawk and a grackle separately preyed on individuals from this population. The population has only been around for a short number of years, and there are no native lizards in this region, so this represented novel predatory behaviors on a no-analog lizard population in the region. Scroll to page 500 of this Issue of Herpetological Review for some interesting observation and incredible photos published!
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Research highlight: News & Views published in Molecular Ecology (Bethan Littleford-Colquhoun et al.)Led by Bethan Littleford-Colquhoun, the Kartzinel Lab published a strong, thoughtful, and evidence-based reply to an earlier comment in Molecular Ecology: Evidence-based strategies to navigate the complexity of dietary DNA.
The take-home: there are a lot of challenges and opportunities when it comes to using dietary DNA metabarcoding strategies to advance a variety of important research agendas; Beth is leading the way when it comes to clear-thinking about how we conduct our studies and how we can strengthen the evidence we use to support our conclusions. Dr. Haldre Rogers joins a class at Brown University
Profile: Hannah Hoff and her work on Yellowstone plant-herbivore interactions
Lab in action at Yellowstone National Park
Research highlight: review about dietary DNA published in Molecular Ecology (Bethan Littleford-Coluqhoun et al.)The Kartzinel Lab led an Open Access review in Molecular Ecology to help you avoid one of the most common mistakes we see in dietary DNA metabarcoding studies. Learn about why "abundance thresholds" may not always be appropriate to use in bioinformatic pipelines, and how to be careful about interpreting them when they are used. Our paper -- The precautionary principle and dietary DNA metabarcoding: commonly used abundance thresholds change ecological interpretation -- was highlighted by the Editorial Board of Molecular Ecology for its contribution to key discussions on this important topic.
Ezequiel Vanderhoeven receives Rufford Foundation awardCongratulations to Dr. Ezequiel Vanderhoeven for your Rufford Foundation Grant! Ezequiel plans to study infectious diseases circulating in populations of armadillo species native to the Argentinian Chaco. The goal of the study is to understand how diseases impact populations of these species for the benefit of conservation and to support local governments and communities in the adoption of environmental practices that minimize the risk of spillover. It is an extremely important and ambitious project. The Rufford award not only provides crucial financial support, but also represents a valuable endorsement of the work from a leading international authority on applied conservation biology.
Feature: Bianca Brown in Brown Alumni MagazineBianca Brown was featured as one of seven "exceptional alumni" profiled by the Brown Alumni Magazine in 2021. As quoted below, the article "Emerging Victorious" features seven of the many exemplary students who thrived and graduated despite the pandemic. It's a very fitting and well deserved highlight for Bianca, who we are incredibly proud to have had as the first PhD to fledge from the lab. Congratulations, Bianca, we can't wait to see all the good you do in your life and career!
Research highlight: new paper in Journal of Animal Ecology (Tyler Kartzinel et al.)
Profile: Chrishen Gomez joins the lab
Papers on diet-microbiome linkages in humans and wildlife published in tandem
Research highlight: paper featured on the cover of Nature (Robert Pringle et al.)
Two seniors awarded Fulbright scholarshipsWe could not be more proud of Ashley Bang (DEEPs, left) and Molly Magid (EEB, right), two seniors completing Honors theses in the lab: both recipients of the 2019 Fulbright Scholarship! Ashley is destined for Singapore and Molly for New Zealand. We have been lucky to work with rising stars, and we look forward to seeing them amplify their research and conservation impacts around the world!
2019 Diamondback terrapin conservation genetics field seasonAmanda Lyons and Bianca Brown braved the rainy weather to kick off our terrapin field season. Diamondback terrapins are the only "critically imperiled" reptile in Rhode Island, and a major conservation priority for the state. Amanda and Bianca were joined by our collaborators from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and The Roger Williams Park Zoo. Our research goal is to understand how genetically interconnected are the remaining few terrapin populations in the state, and relatedness to populations from neighboring states. This research is supported in part by a 2019 Voss Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Environmental Science and Communication to Amanda Lyons. Congratulations Amanda, and thanks IBES for supporting this research.
Tyler Kartzinel named ESA Early Career FellowTyler was elected to the Ecological Society of America's 2018-2022 cohort of Early Career Fellows. The Society Announced the honor to recognize members who have advanced ecological knowledge and applications and show promise to make outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by ESA.
It is a tremendous honor to join such an inspiring group of scholars. Thanks to ESA for the leadership and inspiration that it provides to the diversity and generations of ecologists.
Winter fieldwork in KenyaSeveral members of the lab are just back from an extremely productive field trip. Highlights include a DNA barcoding workshop at the National Museums of Kenya (led by Tyler Kartzinel and of Brown University Brian Gill, and Director Paul Musili from the East African Herbarium), many pre-dawn captures of small mammals (led by Bianca Brown and collaborators from the Goheen lab), and many trees and and megaherbivores counted (led by Brian Gill and Peter Lokeny). Now the team is breaking in the new lab -- copious amounts of data to report soon! Photos of the highlights are below.
Feature: Tyler Kartzinel's research as an HHMI textbook example Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) just released a “BioInteractive” lab featuring our research on the diets of savanna herbivores.
Research highlight: experimental work to rewild sick lab mice published (Sarah Budischak et al.)The full text of an exciting paper featuring dietary DNA metabarcoding work in collaboration with the Kartzinel Lab was published: Feeding immunity: physiological and behavioral responses to infection and resource limitation. The article appears in a special feature of Frontiers in Immunology entitled Wild immunity -- the answers are out there.
Bianca Brown wins NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP)
In the field with Biodiversity Initiative
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