Research
I am interested in studying the origin and maintenance of biological diversity. I use genetic data, museum specimens, natural history data, and environmental/geographical data to achieve this. Currently, I am working with amphibians, reptiles, and freshwater crayfish as model organisms.
Dendropsophus marmoratus - Marbled Treefrog
Determinants of genetic diversity in amphibians
I'm very excited to be working with amphibians again! During my time working at Dr. Lisa Barrow's Lab, we'll be using repurposed data and new genomic data to study what determines genetic/genomic diversity in amphibians.
Our first results were presented in the JMIH 2022 in Spokane (my first JMIH ever!) where we presented what determines amphibian nucleotide diversity in Neotropical amphibians using phylogeny, natural history traits, and geography. A new opportunity to present the first results of this research was during the 5th Standalone Meeting of the Society of Systematic Biologists in Mexico City (January 2023). It was a short trip to Mexico, but I enjoyed the meeting and food!
Please check our first manuscript derived from this project. We studied determinants of genetic variation in Neotropical amphibians using Machine Learning and Phylogenetic Comparative Methods. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14795
Next stop... Genetic variation in global salamanders!
Population genomics and species delimitation of burrowing crayfishes
This was my PhD research at the Universidad Austral de Chile with the mentoring of Dr. Guillermo D'Elia and Dr. Pedro Victoriano. The main goal of this research was to clarify the taxonomic status of Parastacus nicoleti an endemic freshwater crayfish from southern Chile. To achieve this goal, I used an integrative taxonomic approach with molecular (mtDNA and SNPs) and morphological (linear and geometric) data of samples recovered along with the distribution range of this crayfish species.
Check out our latest publication:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790322000562
In this work, we found that P. nicoleti is a species complex and we are proposing six new cryptic and allopatric species! We uncovered a complex and ancient history of diversification (The crown age for P. nicoleti s.l. was estimated at approx. 33 Ma!).
Natural history of reptile species from western Ecuador
In collaboration with Ecuadorian researchers, we are studying the ecology and distribution of reptile species present in western Ecuador. This research includes projects involving new distributional records of native and introduced species.
Check out our latest publication: https://checklist.pensoft.net/article/53172/element/8/26679//
A new manuscript led by Dr. Andrea Narvaez about the expansion of the brown anole (Anolis sagrei) in Ecuador was submitted to BioInvasions Records.
Phylogenetics, species delimitation and taxonomy of glassfrogs of Centrolene buckleyi species complex
In collaboration with Dr. Juan Manuel Guayasamin and MSc student Daniela Franco (USFQ) and collaborators, we are studying the systematics of the Centrolene buckleyi species complex (Anura: Centrolenidae) under an integrative approach and for the description of new species from Ecuador.
A new manuscript led by Daniela with the description of two new species of Centrolene was submitted to PeerJ.
Hyloxalus infraguttatus - Chimbo Rocket Frog
Multilocus species delimitation and biogeography of poison frogs of genus Hyloxalus
In collaboration with researchers from Ecuador and Chile, and led by Dr. Luis A. Coloma (Centro Jambatu de Investigación y Conservación de Anfibios) and Dr. Juan Carlos Santos (St. John's University) we are studying the systematics of the clades infraguttatus and elachyhistus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) for the description of new species from Ecuador.