Monarcha
  

 
 
 
  
 
 
PEOPLE
   
LAB ALUMNI:  
GRADS  
Jelmer Poelstra Project: Population genetics of monarch flycatchers
Jelmer in Ecuador

I am a visitor from the Netherlands, where I grew up and also got my bachelor's degree (Univ. Groningen). I am interested in many aspects of evolutionary ecology, particularly speciation. For my Master's in Evolutionary Biology, still in Groningen, I first did a research project on grey-breasted wood-wrens with Hans Slabbekoorn (Univ. Leiden) & Caroline Dingle (Univ. Cambridge). I performed song playback experiments with two woodwren subspecies that show character displacement in song in their contact zone in Ecuador. At the Uy lab I am now doing my second research project for my Master's. Two morphologically distinct taxa of the chestnut-bellied monarch flyucatcher are basically inseparable on the basis of mitDNA sequences. With nuclear markers I hope to clarify this discrepancy.
Jelmer is now at Uppsala University working on his Ph.D. in Hans Ellegren's lab.
   
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Adam C. Stein Project: Avian hybrid zone dynamics
Adam Stein with a lemon-collared manakin

The diversity of life has always fascinated me. Since the age of 14, I have worked in zoological collections. This exposure led me to ponder the evolutionary processes that led to this diversity. My dissertation project focuses on speciation in bearded manakins of Central America. In particular, I wish to understand the role of divergent natural and sexual selection in rapid speciation.

Prior to joining the lab, I received a B.S. in zoology from Northern Arizona University, where I worked with Dr. Russell P. Balda on exploring the spatial memory abilities of Corvids. After my undergraduate degree (1999), I joined several field projects in Arizona, Australia, and South & Central America.

Adam defended his Ph.D. dissertation in Jan. 2009. He is now the resident Biologist at the Muraviovka
Park for Sustainable Land Use in Siberia.
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UNDERGRADS  
Dan Baldassarre  
Dan

Dan is now a graduate student (Ph.D.) at Cornell University in Mike Webster's lab. He is working on hybrid zone dynamics of fairywrens in Australia. Dan worked on mate choice in Poecilia parae for his undergraduate thesis. Dan was in the Uy lab from 2006 to 2008.
   
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Edie Dooley  
Edie

Edie was a Rene Crown Scholar and participated in the Uy lab from 2006-2008. Her thesis addressed the effects of urbanization in thesong structure of the common yellowthroat. She is currently at the University of Montana working on her Master's in forestry.
   
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David Kelley  
Dave

Dave was a computer science major who worked in the Pitnick and Uy labs. He was interested in modelling the evolution of adaptive, condition-dependent female mating preferences. He is now in graduate school (Program in Bioinformatics) at the University of Maryland
   
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Mark Kielecki  
Mark

Currently a graduate student in the Communication Science & Disorders program at Syracuse University, Mark worked in the Uy lab during his senior year (2005). He tested the possible role of male body size and gonopodium (intromittent organ) length in female choice.
   
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Ryan Mackie  
Ryan

Ryan's project explored the possibility that male body size and gonopodium length are correlated with aspects of sperm morphology. He was in the Uy lab fom 2006 to 2007.
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Carlos Montalvo  
Carlos as tinman

Carlos is now in medical school. Carlos worked on the effects of variable visual habitats in mate choice in swordtails for his undergraduate thesis. Carlos was in the Uy lab from 2006-2008.