Dr. Brian Sedio Assistant Professor, Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin Research Associate, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Research Interests: community ecology, evolutionary ecology, chemical ecology, plant-insect interactions, plant-microbe interactions, comparative genomics, biogeography
Amateur Interests: ethnobotany, history, Pre-Colombian archaeology, backpacking, languages
Postdoc
Dr. Guillaume Dury Guillaume is a Stengl-Wyer Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. Guillaume hails from a small town near Montréal, Quebéc, Canada. He completed a masters at McGill University before receiving his Ph.D. in 2022 from Indiana University, where he studied maternal effects in beetles. Guillaume is an avid naturalist and coleopterist. His is currently using comparative genomics and metabolomics to test the hypothesis that species-rich tropical tree genera represent adaptive radiations, the diversification of which is driven by selection for divergence in defensive secondary metabolites among closely related tree species.
Lab Manager
Cassidy Hawk Lab Technician
STRI Technicians
Roni Saenz Botanist, Parataxonomist
Moisés Peréz Botanist, Parataxonomist
Graduate Students
Fiona MacNeill Fiona is interested in plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore interactions, the feedback between the two, and its implications for plant secondary metabolites. Her dissertation research is focused on Passiflora passion vines and their lepidopteran herbivores and plants that have repeatedly evolved hummingbird-adapted flowers from bee-pollinated ancestors, especially Salvia native to Texas and surrounding regions.
Zarluis Mijango Ramos Zarluis is a Panamanian botanist and ecologist. His interests include understanding the factors that drive the diversity, composition, and distribution of tropical plants, especially with respect to altitudinal gradients. Zarluis completed his masters degree in Dr. Jim Dalling's lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research is focused at the Fortuna Forest Reserve, a beautiful, highland and endemic tropical forest in western Panama. Zarluis is passionate about plants, and likes to cook, read, work-out and play sports.
Christian A. López Christian is a Panamanian botanist. His interests include the taxonomy, systematics, ecology, evolution and biogeography of the lycophyte genus Selaginella (especially the articulate species). He completed a bachelor's thesis with Iván Valdespino, world expert in the taxonomy and systematics of the Selaginellaceae family, at the University of Panama. He is also interested in the Flora of ferns and lycophytes of Panama and other regions and the ecology and evolution of their anti-herbivore defenses. He is an enthusiast of Mesoamerican cultures and loves Mexican cuisine.
Sarah Hunter Sarah is a native Texan and graduate of Texas A&M University. She is interested in plant systematics and trait evolution, and is studying the evolution of quinolizidine alkaloids in Genistiae tribe of legumes, which includes the genus Lupinus, including the Andean tarwi and the Texas bluebonnet.
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Undergraduate Researchers: Sierra Chadwick Alondra Fleming-Parra
Visitors: Dr. Martin Volf Group Leader, Institute of Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences Dr. Andrea Glassmire Postdoc, Louisiana State University David Henderson PhD student, Washington University in St. Louis Jing Leong PhD student, Czech Academy of Sciences Gibson Aubona PhD student, Czech Academy of Sciences and Binatang Research Centre, Papua New Guinea Emma Thurau PhD student, City University of New York Cassie Raker PhD student, University of Rhode Island Ethan Torres PhD student, University of Oregon
Virtual Visitors: Dr. Jordan Kueneman Postdoc, Cornell University Dr. Ana Salgado Postdoc, Louisiana State University Lotte Skovmand PhD student, McGill University Juan Pablo Naranjo Vásquez PhD student, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Xuezhao Wang PhD student, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden Yunyun HePhD student, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
Former Postdocs: Dr. Guille Peguero Lecturer, Universitat de Barcelona
Former Undergraduate Researchers and Interns: Connor Stump Nathaniel Gregory Mateo Córdova Lauren Hart Yessenia Guadalupe Mili Palma Keri Greig Nelly Guerra Cristopher Aguilar Mies Van Aar Chloé Debyser Daniel Lamont Marjorie Cedeño Katie Uckele Julia Adams Adriel Sierra Neil Khosla Damon Plant Bryce Hostetler Maru Losada Evelin Quilarque
Former technicians: Isabela Sanfeliz Connor Stump Alec Agha Jack Dwenger María Laura Prechi Roni Saenz Jazmín Trejo