Liza Gomez Daglio
Graduate student

I am interested in taxonomy, systematics and biogeography of jellyfish (Scyphozoa) and barnacles (Balanomorpha). My research focuses on the biodiversity and evolution of these organisms, especially for those species that belong to the Gulf of California and the Baja California Peninsula Pacific coast. I will describe and register the species that live in these areas, in order to understand the biogeography of the fauna in the Gulf of California. Morphometrics and molecular tools will help me to understand the biogeographic patterns of the invertebrates, as well describe their rich evolutionary histories.

Miguel Fernandez
Graduate student

My earliest and most vivid memories of Bolivia's natural environment are from Chulumani (16°24'35" S; 67°31'32" W), a village located in the tropical cloud forest of the eastern slope of the Andes. Evening walks through the cloud forest filled my mind with wonder and amazement. Thousands of creatures creating symphonies of whistles, croaks, snorts, squawks, squeaks and hoots. Fireflies filling the atmosphere and dozens of birds and bats flying into the forest with the approaching twilight. Clouds appearing and vanishing, and as darkness arrives, they descend deep into the valleys below creating an endless white carpet. It makes sense now that this region called the Yungas, which means where the clouds sleep, is where I first learned to open my heart to Nature. My research interest is deeply rooted in conservation biology. I use GIS, remote sensing, ecological niche theory and modeling and evolution to understand biodiversity patterns at global scale and its response to human induced global change.

Joan Lehman
Graduate student

A lot of people (even my husband) ask me why I came back to school at my 'advanced' age after years of raising children and running a small business. I wish I knew the answer to that. All I can say is that I came back because I've always wanted to and, now at this time of my life, I realized that I could. I have found returning to school challenging, demanding but also very rewarding. With the support of the UC Merced faculty, TAs and my fellow students (and family) I’ve managed to struggle through some tough classes to graduate in May 2008.  

I'm studying the evolution of cardinal fish from marine lakes of Palau - something I never dreamed I would be involved in.  To study the fish morphologically, we have taken a variety of measurements of specimens of three different species from five lagoons and seven marine lakes. These data are being analyzed to compare differences within and between the species. The DNA analysis involves extracting and amplifying the DNA from these fish and sequencing certain genes. These data will be used to build phylogenetic trees so we can compare our morphological information with the DNA data and establish evolutionary rates and relationships between the ancestral lagoon stock and the lake descendents.

Aubrie O'Rourke
Graduate student

I was ten and my grandpa casually said to me, "we have not yet caught up with the genius of Nature" and I was blown away because he knows everything. Another clever guy by the name of  Lewis Wolpert famously said, "It is not birth, marriage, or death, but gastrulation which is truly the most important time in your life." Well congratulations to you and I, because we have both already gastrulated; we have passed the test that prior generations have studied so hard for and the rest of our lives should be nothing but celebration and intellectual stimulation or something like that. As for gastrulation, it is a cell specifying stage in an embryo's development and is followed by a cascade of events causing a single embryo to become an adult life form like you or I. And It is because of the above ideas that I have chosen to spend my time look at 'the genius of nature' from the vantage point of development in celebration of life. My focus has always been on marine invertebrates because they, like development, are both beautiful and fascinating and their genes along with rapid radiating events tell a great evolutionary tale. In short that's me and congrats again for being a fine specimen.

Sharon Patris
Graduate student

Sharon has been a long-time collaborator, working on the marine lakes team in Palau, and also our trip to Papua, since 2006. She'll join the lab in Spring 2010.

Holly Swift
Graduate student

My main research focus is as an evolutionary ecologist, so I’m especially interested in how evolutionary differences between organisms manifest themselves in ecological differences, especially in pelagic ecosystems. I’m hoping to start research on the phylogenetics, feeding behavior and biomechanics of Mastigias jellyfish which live in marine lakes soon. I’ve worked before on ecological questions of feeding and biomechanics with ctenophores, which are also beautiful, pelagic gelatinous organisms (and best of all, they don’t sting when you catch them).