Advisory Board and Editors Taxonomy
Francisco Balao
Francisco Balao is associate lecture of Plant Biology at the University of Seville; Past post-doc Marie-Curie fellow in the Department of Plant Systematics at the University of Vienna.
Research interests are mainly focused on how plant genomes interact with its environment across ecological and evolutionary timescale. We try to elucidate the mechanistic bases of the biodiversity through studies of molecular phylogenetics and phylogenomics, phylogeography, cytogenetics, ecophysiology, transcriptomics and reproductive biology.
Renato Benesperi
Associate Professor at the Department of Biology of the University of Florence.
His main research activity focuses on ecology, diversity and systematic of lichens. Research topics include the assessment and management of impacts of human activities (e.g. forest management, invasive alien species, climate changes) on lichen and plant communities.
Rüdiger Bieler
Curator (research professor) in the Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago and Member of the Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago
Research interests include evolutionary systematics, biogeography, comparative morphology, and taxonomy, with special focus on marine Mollusca, especially Gastropoda and Bivalvia. As a “museum person,” he is particularly interested in the development and application of organismal, collections-based research, ranging from extensive new field surveys and large-scale specimen and data management issues, to the integration of morphological, paleontological, and molecular data to address biological research questions. He recently served as lead PI of the Bivalve Assembling-the-Tree-of-Life (BivAToL.org) effort and is involved in coral reef restoration projects and associated invertebrate surveys in the Florida Keys. Past offices include service as president of the American Malacological Society and of the International Society of Malacology (Unitas), and he currently a member of the steering committee of WoRMS (marinespecies.org) and a chief editor in the MolluscaBase.org effort.
Jason E Bond
Professor and Evert and Marion Schlinger Chair in Insect Systematics. Primary area of specialty is evolutionary diversification of terrestrial arthropods with an emphasis in spider systematics and taxonomy. Other interests include diplopod and tenebrionid beetle systematics, taxonomy, and speciation pattern/process.
Christine L Borgman
Christine L. Borgman, Professor & Presidential Chair in Information Studies at UCLA, is the author Big Data, Little Data, No Data ( 2015), Scholarship in the Digital Age (2007) and From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure (2000), and about 200 other publications in information studies, computer science, and communication. She is a Fellow of the ACM and of AAAS; and a member of the Board of Directors of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Edward L Braun
Professor of Biology, University of Florida; member of UF genetics institute and Affiliate Curator Florida Museum of Natural History
Viktor V. Brygadyrenko
Dr. Viktor Brygadyrenko is an Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology and Ecology at Oles Honchar Dnipro National University.
His main scientific projects include:
- Effect of heavy metal ions on the development of invertebrates.
- Morphological variability in populations of beetles in conditions of anthropogenically altered ecosystems.
- Trophic relations of species in litter macrofauna of Ukraine.
- Structure of litter macrofauna communities in forest ecosystems of Ukraine.
- Influence of medicinal plants, flavourings and source materials, approved for use in and on foods, on eggs and larvae of nematodes of mammals.
- Ecological niches of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in Ukraine.
- Morphometric variation in ground beetles.
Gabriele Casazza
My current research interests focus on the study of biogeography and conservation of endemic plants. Research topics include the effects of past and future climate change, the reproductive biology, the phylogeography and the taxonomy.
Luis M Chiappe
Vice President for Research and Collections, and Director of the Dinosaur Institute, at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Adjunct Professor of the University of Southern California. Research Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. J. S. Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award of the Humboldt Foundation.
Jonathan F. Colville
I am interested in the distribution and diversity patterns of insects and the reasons underlying observed patterns. I study both point diversity and compositional differences in insect and plant community patterns and relate these to ecological and evolutionary processes. I am also interested in the evolution of exaggerated traits in insects, such as those traits associated with sexual selection. The functional morphology of insect mouthparts, particularly of insect pollinators, are a further area of interest, as is the systematics and taxonomy of beetles (Scarabaeidae).
Christopher Cooper
Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, since 2015. Previously Junior Research Fellow, College Lecturer In Biochemistry and various postdocs at the University of Oxford (2013-15). Working on DNA replication, genome integrity and transcription factors in human cancers (and also in prokaryotes). Additional interests in phylogenomics and novel protein expression systems.
Mark John Costello
B.Sc. (NUI Galway); Ph.D. 1987 (NUI Cork). Involved in World Register of Marine Species, International Association for Biological Oceanography, Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Ocean Biodiversity Information System, Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network, Species 2000, IUCN. Worked in Ireland, Plymouth England, Aberdeen and Edinburgh Scotland, St Andrews Canada, and Auckland New Zealand.