People

Dr. Christopher Blair - PI

I consider myself a naturalist at heart, and have always been interested in enjoying and preserving the natural world. Like many young scientists, I originally wanted to become a marine biologist. However, after an eye-opening trip to the Peruvian Amazon I switched gears to focus on reptiles and amphibians. I came to appreciate the beauty of these organisms, and wanted to understand the evolutionary processes that contributed to the enormous diversity we see. Much of my current work focuses on the systematics, phylogenetics, and biogeography of lizards, particularly throughout the southwestern US and Mexico. More recently, I have been expanding my research questions to the herpetofauna of Africa. Throughout my career I have been fortunate to form collaborations with excellent researchers throughout these regions.

Dr. Felipe de Medeiros Magalhaes

I’m a Brazilian herpetologist with particular interest in evolutionary biology, systematics and species delimitation methods. I work primarily with genetic and genomic data of frogs and reptiles from the Neotropical realm. Much of my research has been focused on frogs from the Caatinga and Atlantic Forest of Brazil, where I have been investigating species limits and the causes of genetic divergence across environmental gradients. Understanding the evolutionary histories and processes generating genetic diversity of a highly biodiverse region is what thrives me the most.