Former Lab Members (In construction)

Former Graduate Students

Devya Hemraj (M.Sc. co-supervised with Dr. P. Maharaj, 2019-2021) - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Guyana. Thesis topic: Habitat structure and morphology of fishes in blackwater creeks along the Linden Soesdyke highway, Guyana.

Elford Liverpool (M.Sc. co-supervised with P. DaSilva, 2010-2013) - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Guyana. Thesis topic: Community ecology and conservation of fishes in the upper Mazaruni river drainage of Guyana.

Currently Lecturer, School of Forestry, University of Guyana, Georgetown.

Stéphanie Lefevbre (M. Sc. Completed, co-supervised with N. R. Lovejoy, 2012-2013) - Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto. Thesis topic: Are there correlations between jaw morphology, body morphology and diet in loricariid catfishes?

Currently Senior Science Advisor, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Shannon Refvik (M. Sc. Completed, co-supervised with Belinda Chang, 2010-2012), Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto.

Thesis topic: Evolution of visual pigments in Neotropical cichlid fishes of the tribe Geophagini.

Former Graduate Students

Dr. Viviana Astudillo-Clavijo (2014-2020, co-advised with Dr. Santiago Claramunt). Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto. Dissertation: Diversification of riverine cichlids: phylogenomic, locomotor and habitat patterns using natural history collections.

Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan

Dr. Sarah E. Steele (2013-2017). Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto. Dissertation: Body size evolution and diversity of fishes using the Neotropical cichlids (Cichlinae) as a model system.

Currently: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Iceland.

Dr. Frances Hauser (2011-2017, co-advised with Dr. Belinda Chang). Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto. Dissertation: Selection, constraint, and adaptation in the visual genes of Neotropical cichlid fishes.

Currently: NSERC Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough.

Dr. Jessica Arbour (Ph.D. 2010-2015). Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto. Dissertation: Trends in the evolution and ecology of functional morphology of Neotropical cichlids.

Currently: Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University

Former Postdocs

Dr. Nathan K. Lujan – (Postdoctoral Researcher, Coadvised with Nathan R. Lovejoy, 2012-2014). Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, funded by an International Research Fellowship Program, U.S. National Science Foundation. Project title: Upland Biogeography and Adaptive Radiation of the Neotropical Rubbernose Loricariids.

Currently: Associate Curator of Fishes, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada

Dr. Katriina Ilves (Postdoctoral Researcher, 2012-2015) – Rebanks Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum. Project title: Phylogenomics of Neotropical cichlid fishes.

Currently: Research Scientist and Section Head, Zoology, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada

Victor de Brito (Visiting Undergraduate Student, 2014) - Ciencia sem Fronteiras (Science without Borders), CNPq, Brazil. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Mississauga.

Dr. Ricardo Britzke (Visiting Ph D. Student, 2014) - Ciencia sem Fronteiras (Science without Borders), FAPESP, Sâo Paulo State, Brazil. Supervisor: Claudio de Oliveira, co-supervisor: Jonathan S. Ready). Institute for Biosciences, State University of São Paulo.

Research topic: Phylogenetic relationships in the genus Apistogramma (Teleostei: Cichlidae) and phylogeography of Apistogramma agassizi.

Previous Lab Volunteers and Interns

- Vanessa Minke-Martin (2013), Fleming College intern, Program in Environmental Visual Communication, ROM ichthyology research and 100 aniversary.

- Saili Bundele (2012), Fleming College intern, Forensic Sciences, ROM Laboratory of Molecular Systematics, Multilocus phylogeny of the cichlid genus Geophagus.

- Rex Tang (2011), Volunteer at the ROM ichthyology lab, identifying and cataloguing of fish samples from Costa Rica and Venezuela.

- Jared Sheath (2010-2011), Co-op volunteer High School student, organization of the ROM-Ichthyology tissue collection.

- Jackie Hung (2009-2010), Volunteer student, organization of the ROM-Ichthyology tissue collection.

- Paul Cheung (2009), Undergraduate volunteer at the ROM Laboratory of Molecular Systematics, Multilocus phylogeny of the cichlid genus Geophagus.

- Kevin Shu (2009), Co-op volunteer High School student, organization of the ROM-Ichthyology tissue collection.

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