Graduate Students
Duncan Irschick: Ph.D., 1996, "Adaptation, Performance Ability and Evolutionary Diversification in Anolis Lizards."  Duncan's thesis research involved a detailed investigation of whether anoles actually make use of their maximal capabilities in nature.  Painstaking field studies established that some, but not all, species, utilized their maximal sprinting capabilities to escape potential predators.  By contrast, they do not appear to perform maximally when sprinting toward prey or jumping.  In addition, a phylogeny for the anoles of Jamaica was developed based on mitochondrial DNA sequences.  Papers from the thesis have been published in Evolution and Ecology; additional papers published while at Wash. U. appeared in Animal Behaviour, Evolution, and the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.  Duncan is now a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Cincinnati, where he is performing detailed biomechanical studies of lizard locomotion in the laboratory of Bruce Jayne.  irschidj@email.uc.edu
 

Marguerite Butler: Ph.D., 1998, "Evolution of Sexual Dimorphism and Adaptive Radiation in Anolis Lizards."  Marguerite's thesis examined the role that sexual dimorphism plays in adaptive radiation.  Focusing on the Caribbean anole radiation, she asked whether the patterns of ecological and morphological differences among ecomorphs, defined previously based on males, also are apparent when females are examined.  While at Washington University, she published papers in Evolution and Molecular Ecology and received an N.S.F. Dissertation Improvement Grant.  She is now a post-doc at the Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Tokyo, where she is working under Masami Hasegawa on a variety of molecular evolutionary questions.  butler@ism.ac.jp

Undergraduates

Kevin Beuttel, B.A., 1994.  Kevin received a Howard Hughes Fellowship to conduct a detailed morphometric comparison of Caribbean anole species, examining not only a wider range of taxa than ever previously considered, but also looking at characteristics, such as toepad size and tail shape, that have never been examined.  The paper from this project is in press at Herpetological Monographs.  Kevin is now in the process of receiving a Master's degree in landscape architecture.

Danielle Glossip, B.A., 1994. Danielle received a Howard Hughes Fellowship to study the population dynamics and demography of collared lizards on Missouri glades.  During this time, she also wrote a paper comparing the number of lamellae on the toepads of Caribbean anoles which was published in Herpetologica and contributed to several other projects which have resulted in submitted manuscripts.  After graduating, she ran the collared lizard project for a year and a half.  Danielle now works in the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University.

Matt Parks, B.A., 1994. Matt worked on several projects, including studies of fence lizard social behavior and lizard claw shape.  After a stint as a salmon fisherman in Alaska, he is now a graduate student in forestry at the University of Idaho.  park6728@uidaho.edu
 

Ling-ru Chu, B.A., 1994. Ling-ru spent a summer assisting Marguerite Butler in Puerto Rico, then worked on two laboratory projects.  The primary one involved taking morphometric measurements on small Hispaniolan anoles to compare with amber-preserved specimens from the Oligocene.  It turns out that these specimens are indistinguishable morphometrically from present-day trunk-crown specialists.  This paper is in press in American Museum Novitates.  A second project compared dewlap size among the ecomorph classes and was published in Copeia.  Ling-ru is now a graduate student in the Animal Behavior group at the University of California, Davis.  lchu@glyph.com

Stephan Koruba, B.A., 1996. Stephan worked in Jamaica and Puerto Rico with Duncan Irschick and  is now in the Peace Corps in Bolivia.

Jon Forman, B.A., 1997. Jon worked on a comparison of morphometric variation between Sceloporus and Anolis, a manuscript from which will soon be submitted.  In addition, Jon assisted Duncan Irschick with field work in Puerto Rico and Jamaica, for which he was supported by a Howard Hughes Fellowship.  He is now a medical student at the University of South Florida.

Ted Macrini, B.A., 1997. Ted worked in Jamaica and Puerto Rico with Duncan Irschick.  A project on ontogenetic change in locomotor capabilities was published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.  Ted is now a graduate student in the Geology Department at the University of Texas at Austin. tmacrini@mail.utexas.edu

Amy Angert, B.A., 1998.  Amy worked for two summers studying the demography of collared lizards and the ecological interactions between collared lizards and fence lizards.  She twice received Howard Hughes fellowships and her honor's thesis was awarded the Spector Prize for the outstanding thesis in 1998.  A paper from her thesis will soon be submitted for publication. Amy received an N.S.F. Graduate Fellowship and is currently a graduate student in Doug Schemske's lab in the Botany Department at the University of Washington. angert@u.washington.edu

Corrie Joshu, B.A., 1998. Corrie worked on the collared lizard project and devised her own study of juvenile and female social behavior.  She is currently working at the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University. cjoshu@watson.wustl.edu