Blog

Richard Coleman’s pioneering work seeks to understand the processes behind patterns of biodiversity in coral reef systems. His research questions span from ecological to evolutionary timescales, and his approaches range from technical rebreather diving in deep waters to genomics research at the lab bench.

In collaboration with park rangers, naturalists, students and academics, Kristina Cockle works to advance knowledge of bird ecology and natural history. A primary focus of their research has been interactions within and across communities of cavity-nesting birds and mammals. Some species, such as woodpeckers, can excavate their own nest sites, but most cavity-nesters depend on pre-existing spaces to nest.

Holly Lutz’s studies have taken her to Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, Honduras and Peru where she has worked in woodlands, dry savannah, rainforests, caves, mines and even outhouses. Working as a field researcher in varied environments, she documents the biodiversity of the largely unseen world of microbes that live as symbionts in close association with mammals, birds, and invertebrates.  

Divya Vasudev works in a diverse, threatened area of Northeast India where there is conflict between the needs of people and wildlife, which is causing major loss of biodiversity. Vasudev’s studies have examined how to increase forest connectivity and reduce species persistence for iconic species, such as elephants and gibbons, that inhabit these landscapes. She uses both biological and human-dimension lenses in the examination of these environments.

Camille Truong devotes her time as a field researcher to an understudied kingdom of organisms: fungi. Her initial research focused on the lichen-forming fungi, and now considers how ectomycorrhizal fungi play important roles in the establishment, growth and health of trees and other vascular plants in forests around the world.

Rosa León Zayas explores some of the most remote places on the planet. A microbial ecologist, she explores the diversity and metabolic capabilities of microbial communities, spending weeks at sea far from land.

Pedro Peloso is the epitome of a modern field biologist, planning, studying and making connections that help us understand our world. His work in herpetology focuses on frogs and involves everything from organizing field expeditions to less-understood areas of Amazonia, describing species discovered during these expeditions and using state-of-the-art techniques that yield insights about genetic and morphological evolution.  

Marta Kolanowska’s field work documents tropical orchids in the biodiversity hotspots of Andean Colombia, Papua New Guinea and the Isthmus of Darien in Panama. She addresses conservation issues by using biogeographical analyses and ecological modeling that help us understand how climate change is affecting orchids and their specialized pollinators. 

Karl Berg’s field work has advanced our understanding of how birds communicate. Shortly after concluding his Ph.D., Berg took over the long-term green-rumped parrotlet study, initiated by Steven Beissinger in the Llanos of Venezuela. Parrots, with their colorful tropical plumages and charismatic “talking,” represent the pinnacle of behavioral and vocal complexity among birds.

Anela Choy’s pioneering research traces the flow of organic matter through deep, open ocean marine ecosystems and explores animal feeding and movement across surface and midwater ocean layers. A seagoing biological oceanographer, Choy also studies how marine food web processes shift with global environmental change and increasing human impacts such as fishing and mining.

Douglas Rasher’s unique perspective and ability to formulate innovative hypotheses have led to important advances in understanding how ecological processes affect the structure and function of coastal ecosystems.

Colleen Durkin’s passion for research, intellectual fearlessness and creativity have led to her making fundamental contributions to our understanding of the biological processes that result in the production and export of carbon and other nutrients in the open ocean.