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About Julian Banuelos Torres
“Science” was always my favorite subject; even as early as elementary school, it was the only subject that really clicked with me. Later I was particularly drawn to ecology because there’s nothing better than working outside. After joining the EcoMorph lab and experiencing the kind of work ecologists do, I was further convinced this was this was the ideal career path for me. I started in the lab as an undergraduate working on swimming performance of the salt marsh harvest mouse. As a current Master’s student I have expanded upon that work by adding a genomics component to uncover the genetic underpinnings to variation in morphology and locomotor performance.
Please see the salt marsh harvest mouse research page for an overview and below for the details of my undergrad and graduate research.
Contact: banue076@csusm.edu
Click here for my CV
Julain's Research
Julian’s Undergraduate Research
A part of our ongoing research is characterizing traits that allow the salt marsh harvest mouse to exist in a flooded environment. One of the characteristics we are currently investigating is the fur density of the mice. A mammal’s fur has important functions such as thermoregulation, waterproofing, and of particular relevance to the salt marsh harvest mouse, buoyancy. Therefore, animals that are specialized for a more aquatic environment benefit from having higher fur density. Our preliminary data show that salt marsh harvest mice tend to have higher fur densities than other coexisting rodents.
Julian’s Graduate Research
The salt marsh harvest mouse is an endangered species that is restricted to the San Francisco Estuary. My research goal is to understand the adaptive significance of genetic variation among populations occupying different habitats throughout the marsh. To do this I am currently building a bioinformatics pipeline to process whole genome data which I will use to measure if/how selection influences frequencies of alleles that are important for shaping their morphology and locomotor performance. Understanding the interaction between genotype and phenotype in the context of microhabitats variation can help us better understand the importance of maintaining genetic diversity, which is a conservation priority for this species.
Julian in action...
First Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology (2025) talk.
Examining a salt marsh harvest mouse in the field.
Educating the public about the salt marsh harvest mouse during SuperSTEM Saturday, at Cal State San Marcos.
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