photo by Kathryn Mercier
Carnaval Lab
Breaking molds in Biogeography
Lab Alumni
Former PhD Students
Connor French
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Connor graduated with a BS in Biology (Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior; 2015) from the University of Texas at Austin where he studied the evolution of color in female three-spine stickleback and hung out at the natural history collections a little too much. He then pursued a Master of Science in Zoology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale under Dr. Jason Brown’s advisorship. He studied the speciation and phylogeography of an Ameerega poison frog species pair in Peru. While in Carbondale, he ill-advisedly joined two bands, which made writing his thesis more stressful than it should have been.
He joined the Carnaval and Hickerson Labs in Fall 2018. His academic research focuses on how populations, species, and communities evolve in response to changing environments. Integrating species distribution modeling using earth observation data with population genomics to address these questions.
He earned his PhD degree in June 2024, and now is working in the industry!
Andrea Paz
Andrea graduated with a BS in Biology from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia where she studied the phylogeography of the Red-eyed tree frog and how the environment may be influencing the phylogeographic patterns. During her Master's at the same university she studied the environmental and ecological determinants of population genetic divergence in amphibians of Panama.
She earned Biology (Ecology Evolution and Behavior) PhD from the City University of New York (CUNY). She joined the program and the Carnaval Lab in the Fall 2015 with a Fulbright Colombia fellowship to study how environments can be used to predict different dimensions of diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. She also part of the WallaceEcoMod development team.
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She is now a PI at the University of Montreal.
Maria Strangas
Maria graduated from the University of Rochester with a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in May 2010. There, she worked on research projects through the Ramsey Lab, including documenting the composition of Rochester-area forests, studying meadow pollinator communities, and surveying woodland amphibians. She has also worked with loggerhead sea turtles through Archelon, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece.
After spending two years in the Carnaval Lab as a Lab Technician, Maria joined the group full-time as a PhD Student in Fall 2012.
She is now working as the manager of the Science Research Mentoring Program at the American Museum of Natural History
Brandon Baird
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Brandon graduated from Stony Brook University with a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in Spring 2012. While there, he worked at the Davalos Lab studying phylogenetics and diversification of cranial morphology in the bat family Phyllostomidae. During this time he also participated in the NSF REU program at the University of Alaska, where he studied the effects of climate and pigmentation on lichen physiology.
He joined the PhD program and the Carnaval Lab in Fall 2013, and is interested in the effects of climate on species diversification and conservation. He is currently investigating the phylogeography and niche evolution of various taxa of Neotropical herpetofauna.
Ivan Prates
Website
Publications
In his Ph.D. research, Ivan has used genomic-scale data to reconstruct the history of South American rainforest lizards, asking how former climate shifts have affected the distribution and demography of tropical taxa. Focusing on anoles, he is now testing for environmental correlates of genomic variation, and identifying genomic regions that have undergone selection during range expansions. Ivan also uses genetic and phenotypic data to assess the geographic distribution, phylogenetic relationships, and taxonomic status of poorly-known frogs and lizards that he has sampled in Brazil.
Amanda Schweitzer
Amanda completed her MSc in Biology in 2015 and focused her research on bacterial community biogeographic patterns and the influence of host species on community composition. Her thesis was entitled, "How do amphibian skin-associated bacterial communities in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest vary across geography, host species, and time." She is presently exploring her love of all things pastry at culinary school in Washington, D.C.
Former Masters Students
Bruce Bell
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James “Bruce” Bell calls himself a forest ecologist, broadly interested in how forested landscapes work, especially in the tropics. He has graduate training in environmental management from Duke University, focussing on conservation science and management and over 10 years of experience in land management and environmental education, mostly in Brazil. He has expertise in GIS and remote sensing tools and has used these tools in a variety of contexts throughout his career. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Biology with Dr. Ana Carnaval at City College and aims to continue research through a PhD. His research interests include the role of biodiversity in ecosystem function, remote sensing of tropical forests, and landscape change dynamics and modeling. He’d like to pursue a career in research at a government or NGO concerned with advancing policy on the world’s forests as well as teach science. He enjoys cycling, adventure racing, skiing, good food, and spending time with his wife and son outdoors.
Alex Garretson
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Alex graduated from Virginia Tech with a BS in Wildlife Sciences working in Dr. Carola Haas’ Ecology Lab where he worked on a project evaluating long-term effects of different timber harvesting techniques on Appalachian salamander populations. Some of his other work has included creating fatality estimates from wind farms for migrating bat populations in eastern Texas, collecting biometric data on nesting sea turtles, and coordinating fecal collection surveys for a primate microbiome study in Equatorial Guinea. In addition to research, he is a science educator working at the American Museum of Natural History, coordinating the care for the live animal collection for Education and teaching classes.
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Alex joined the Carnaval Lab as a Master’s student in the Fall of 2018. He is broadly interested in how landscape patterns affect genomic diversity and gene flow in populations of herpetofauna. He hopes to integrate remote sensing data, species distribution models, and genomic datasets to better understand the biogeographic history and current population structure of Atlantic Forest species.
Leyla Hernandez
Leyla joined the Carnaval lab as an undergraduate on January 2015. She initially studied the phylogeography of Dendropsophus minutus frogs in Brazil, testing for correlations between genetic structure and frog skin microbiomes.
Now a Master’s student in the lab, Leyla is investigating the dispersal and range expansion of the exotic lizard Anolis porcatus in southeastern Brazil, where this Cuban species was introduced. She is interested in the ecological effects of this introduction, and in how niche differences, potential for range expansion, and interactions with native lizards will affect the potential for establishment of Anolis porcatus in Brazil.
Esmeralda Suhling
Esmeralda graduated in Biology from FURB-Blumenau- SC, Brazil, where she spent most of her time studying behavior, cytogenetics, and biochemistry in primates and small mammals.
For her Master's thesis, she wants to study Phylogeography and Evolution of Howler monkeys (genus Alouatta), co-advised by Dr. Eugene Harris from Queensborough- CUNY.
Danielle Grace
Danielle is exploring the link between climate stability and montane biodiversity by analyzing phyloendemism among multiple species' lineages, including amphibians, avians, herps, mammals, and invertebrates. She is now pursuing a PhD at Fordham University in Evolutionary Biology.
Daija Bobe
daija.bobe@gmail.com
Daija was investigating relationship between genetic variation and geographic distribution within and across Ecpleopus gaudichaudii. She aimed to compare genetic structure to climate and topography in order to understand the history of this species, mainly focusing on its responses to former climate change.
Danielle Rivera
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Danielle graduated from the City College of New York with a B.S. in Biology in 2013, and an MSc in Biology in 2015. For her undergraduate and Master's research , she described the phylogenetics and phylogeography of widespread South American Mabuya skink species, and the various effects that landscape heterogeneity and environmental differences have on genetic variation in these species. She is now a Ph.D. student in Dr. Matthew Fujita's Lab at the University of Texas - Arlington.
Maria Amin
Maria completed her Master's with a thesis entitled "Biological reserves under climate migration: a case study in Brazil's Atlantic Rainforest." She is now a Parks Analyst at the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.
Barbara Rizzo
For her Master's work, Barb studied host-pathogen dynamics in the Australian Wet Tropics in collaboration with Dr. Robert Puchendorf from James Cook University. Her thesis was entitled "Chytrid loads, pathogen prevalence, & contemporary host source-sink dynamics in dry vs. wet forests: evaluating refugia from disease in Australian torrent frogs". Barbara is now a NY Teaching Fellow teaching at the High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology.
Ivandy Castro-Astor
Ivandy's work focused on phylogeographic patterns of Manakins, which are Neotropical passerines known for their sexual dimorphism, elaborate courtship display, and lek-breeding systems. Her thesis was entitled "Phylogeographic study of two Neotropical bird species, Red-headed manakin (Pipra rubrocapilla) and white-crowned manakin (Dixiphia pipra)". Ivandy now works with CUNY's Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.
Zoe Spanos
Zoe's dissertation focused on the spatial patterns of genetic diversity in glass frogs of the Atlantic Rainforest, as part of the lab's montane diversity project. Her thesis was entitled "Comparative phylogeography of glassfrogs (Vitreorana) endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest."
Former Undergraduate Students
Evelyn Vasquez
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Evelyn joined the Carnaval Lab in April of 2022. She is currently in her final year in undergrad for her bachelor's degree in Biology at the City College of New York. In the lab, her project focuses on how the phylogeography of two South American birds, Pipra fasciicauda and Basileuterus culicivorus, can help understand how different species respond to climate change. She is currently a fellow at the CCNY Climate Policy program. In the future, she hopes to continue her work in molecular biology and genetics, as well as to learn more about how biodiversity is impacted by climate change.
Mariam Kamissoko
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Mariam joined the Carnaval Lab in April of 2022. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Biology at the City College of New York. She joined the Carnaval Lab in April of 2022, and is currently working the phylogeography of South American birds as a way to investigate past connections between the Amazon and Atlantic Neotropical forests. Her interests rely on molecular biology and specifically genetic studies. In the future, she hopes to apply the research and technical skills gained during her time in the lab to work as a genetics counselor. She is also part of the advisory board in the City College Academy for Professional Preparation (CCAPP), a CCNY program sponsored by the state of New York with the goal of supporting talented under-represented students pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and health-related fields.
Sara El Houzaly
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Sara came to New York to finish up her studies after graduating from high school in Morocco. She started attending LaGuardia community College where she joined many programs that helped her discover her passion for the field of evolutionary biology and biodiversity. One of these programs was the NIH bridges program, in which she conducted a research about the influence of climate change on zoonotic diseases and learned more about how populations change in response to changes in climate. Her interest in this field led her to the Carnaval Lab, where she further deepened her understanding of evolutionary biology, phylogeography and the use of machine learning to understand patterns of genetic diversity. She is interested in applying these concepts in the future to study hominids and the factors that lead to mass extinctions, bottlenecks and the collapse of ancient human civilizations.
Karla Jacome
Karla joined the Carnaval lab as an undergraduate in September 2019. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York in Biochemistry. Her project in the lab is focused on analyzing the effect of environmental factors in the tree frog sister species pair: Hypsiboas semilineatus and H. geographicus. She is also the co-founder of an organization called STEM Hive, which provides resources for middle school students to engage and retain their early interest in STEM. In the future, Karla is interested in integrating biochemical processes into species distribution modeling, to understand how biochemistry can affect ecosystems in South America.
Carolina Perez
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Carolina is an undergraduate completing a BS in Biology at the City College of New York. She is currently interested in creating species distribution models using Wallace to determine the spatial distribution of the green anole, Anolis punctatus, in the Atlantic Forest during the Pleistocene and in the present. She is interested in learning the relationship between species and the biotic factors within the environment.
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When not in the lab, she is the CEO of STEM Hive, a nonprofit organization that empowers young underrepresented students who are interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to pursue an interest. She conducts workshops in Woodside, Queens teaching a group of students different topics in STEM along with her cofounders.
Weijun Liang
Weijun is pursuing a degree of BS in Biotechnology in City College of New York. His honors project is focusing on the phylogeny of Pajama frogs in the Hypsiboas polytaenius clade. His interest is to study molecular evolution, phylogenetics, and comparative genomics with the application of biotechnology and bioinformatics in the future.
Hina Chaudry
Hina graduated in 2012. Her project focused on the biogeography of Anolis lizards in Brazil.
Joyce Chan
Joyce worked on the phylogenetics of the frog Hypsiboas albomarginatus.
Former Post-Docs
Mariana M Vasconcellos
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Jason L. Brown
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Jason’s ongoing projects with the Carnaval Lab are focusing on the integration of generalized dissimilarity models (GDMs), phyloGDMs, and using spatiotemporally explicit demographic and genetic models to investigate the explicit mechanisms underlying the diversification processes and patterns in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil. He is now an Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University.
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Eric Waltari
Eric is an evolutionary ecologist interested in combining molecular methods and species distribution modeling to examine the drivers of spatial patterns of species and genetic diversity. He currently works at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center.
Former visiting students
Amabily Bohn
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Amabily graduated with a BS in Biology from the Federal University of Parana (UFPR-Brazil). In her Master's thesis (Botany Department - UFPR), she focused on describing the taxonomy and phylogeny of Cyclodium, a Neotropical fern genus. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student in the Ecology and Conservation Graduate Program of the Federal University of Paraná. She is interested in understanding the distribution patterns of ferns and lycophytes from the Atlantic Rainforest, encompassing taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities. Besides that, she aims to indicate priority areas for conservation of these organisms within the biome.
Vinicius Anelli
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Vinicius graduated with a BS in Biology from University of São Paulo, Brazil (USP). For his master's thesis, he studied the morphological evolution of snakelike lizards and the evolution of convergent patterns. He also visited Dr. Anthony Herrel's lab at Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris for six months in 2018, and had the opportunity to access preserved specimens from European and Brazilian collections.
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Vinicius is currently a PhD candidate at Kohlsdorf's lab (USP). Following his love for collections and museums, Vinicius is interested in unveiling the global patterns of distribution of morphological diversity in lizards integrating evolution, biogeography and evo-devo using preserved specimens. During his year in New York, he also aims to
provide new empirical evidence for future projections of the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity.
Marcela Brasil
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Marcela has a Bachelor's in Biological Sciences from Centro Universitário São Camilo (2008-2011) and a Master's Degree in an Animal Biology by IBILCE/UNESP (2015-2017). She is currently pursuing her Ph.D in Evolution and Diversity at Universidade Federal do ABC with Prof. Ricardo Sawaya, where she is investigating the impacts of climate change on species richness, functional and phylogenetic diversity of amphibians and snakes in the Atlantic Forest of South America.
She is visiting the Carnaval Lab from September 2022 to August 2023, funded by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de São Paulo (FAPESP).
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Erik Choueri
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Erik is an ecologist who graduated from Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP Rio Claro-São Paulo/Brazil), and has Masters degree in Ecology from Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA-Manaus/Brazil). He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Genetics, Conservation, and Evolutionary Biology program at INPA and a visiting student at The City College of New York.
In his graduation project, he used molecular tools to understand the population dynamics of gray dolphins in an estuarine region in southeastern Brazil. During his Masters, he investigated the phylogeographic patterns of Antbirds that occupy riverine islands in the Amazon Basin. Currently, he is using a phylogeographic endemism approach to identify areas with an accumulation of lineages of small vertebrates (rodents, marsupials, and lizards) in the Amazon, and identifying the historical drivers responsible for these patterns. He is interested in biogeography, phylogeography, population genetics, and the evolution of neotropical organisms.
Lidia Martins
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Lidia graduated with a Bachelor degree from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS/Brazil) and has her Master degree in Animal Biology from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS/Brazil). In her Master's she used population ecology to evaluate the conservation status of a lizard species endemic to the coastal zone of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) by monitoring three of the four known native populations using mark-recapture models.
Now, she is a PhD candidate in Ecology at the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA-Manaus/Brazil). She is interest in understand how natural populations have responded to past climate change and refine models to infer species extinction risks and adaptive potentials due to future global climate change. Lidia joined the Carnaval Lab with a Fulbright Fellowship to work on her PhD project for 9 months (2019-2020).
Lilian Sayuri Ouchi de Melo
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Lilian graduated in Biology from Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) in Brazil, where she also developed her master and current is doing her PhD. During her master's she was interested in tadpoles diversity and distribution across microhabitats within Atlantic Rainforest ponds and streams. In her PhD she is interested in understanding how the composition, morphological traits and evolutionary history of anurans influence the structure of assemblages on Tropical biomes. She focuses on patterns and process involved on anuran community assemblage. Her PhD aims at integrating biogeography, functional and evolutionary ecology to (i) describe and explain how several facets of biodiversity are distributed on Brazilian biomes and (ii) how we can improve conservation strategies for the most threatened vertebrate group of the world (amphibians) applying a multi-faceted approach. She is visiting The Carnaval Lab to learn and understand better how the biogeographic and evolutionary process could be influencing the current diversity of anurans in South America.
Carolina de Barros Machado da Silva
Carolina did her Undergrad and Masters at Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Brazil). During this period, she investigated evolutionary dynamics of B chromosomes front the karyotypic characteristics of an endemic grasshopper from Northeastern Brazil.
Currently, Carolina is developing her PhD project at Universidade Federal de São Carlos (Brazil). She studies phylogenetics and phylogeography of Neotropical freshwater fishes. Her aim is to know which processes (ecological and/or historical) are responsible for actual ichthyfauna distribution pattern in South America.
Laryssa Sakayanagi Teixeira
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Laryssa graduated with a degree in Biology from UNESP Rio Claro/SP-Brazil in 2013 and is currently a Masters student in the Haddad Lab.
For her undergraduate research project, she described the genetic divergence of Ischocnema holti (Anura, Brachycephalidae) a frog species from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Her Master's project involved an expansion of her undergrad work, in which she includes more samples and increase the number molecular markers to understand the phylogeography of this species.
