Diana P. Lopez Doctoral Student
My Research at Temple
Currently, I am working as a graduate assistant with the BioVision Project (Biogeographic Variation in Interaction Strength and Invasions at the Ocean’s Nearshore) examining how species interactions influence marine communities across a latitudinal gradient, from the tropics to the arctic, and the implications of these interactions for biological invasions. We will be conducting extensive experiments testing the relative influence of predation and competition on species diversity, community assembly and invasion success, using subtidal sessile marine invertebrate communities in coastal bays of the West Coast of North and Central America.
My research objectives stem off from Biovision and include: 1) Determine whether functional diversity measured as the functional trait space occupied by sessile marine invertebrate communities follow the same pattern of taxonomic richness across latitudes, 2) Determine the effect of predation on trait distribution to infer community assembly, and 3) Characterize the temperature-dependent metabolism and predation rate of two closely related Hermissenda species to evaluate potential differences in activation energies (i.e., slope) and thermal optima.
My Research at Temple
Currently, I am working as a graduate assistant with the BioVision Project (Biogeographic Variation in Interaction Strength and Invasions at the Ocean’s Nearshore) examining how species interactions influence marine communities across a latitudinal gradient, from the tropics to the arctic, and the implications of these interactions for biological invasions. We will be conducting extensive experiments testing the relative influence of predation and competition on species diversity, community assembly and invasion success, using subtidal sessile marine invertebrate communities in coastal bays of the West Coast of North and Central America.
My research objectives stem off from Biovision and include: 1) Determine whether functional diversity measured as the functional trait space occupied by sessile marine invertebrate communities follow the same pattern of taxonomic richness across latitudes, 2) Determine the effect of predation on trait distribution to infer community assembly, and 3) Characterize the temperature-dependent metabolism and predation rate of two closely related Hermissenda species to evaluate potential differences in activation energies (i.e., slope) and thermal optima.
My Research at FIU
My thesis was centered on understanding how the rapid invasion of the African jewelfish, Hemichromis letourneuxi, in the Everglades ecosystem was linked to behavioral and life history traits. My research questions included 1)Are populations along the invasion front relatively bolder than interior well established populations? 2) Do bolder populations display higher dispersal tendencies? 3) Are there correlations between behavioral and life history traits among populations? I found that boldness does not account for the invading success of African jewelfish, and that better dispersers are not solely found in populations from the invasion front. However, condition factor for populations on the invasion front were higher suggesting that individuals in those populations were better fit than those from well-established populations.
My thesis was centered on understanding how the rapid invasion of the African jewelfish, Hemichromis letourneuxi, in the Everglades ecosystem was linked to behavioral and life history traits. My research questions included 1)Are populations along the invasion front relatively bolder than interior well established populations? 2) Do bolder populations display higher dispersal tendencies? 3) Are there correlations between behavioral and life history traits among populations? I found that boldness does not account for the invading success of African jewelfish, and that better dispersers are not solely found in populations from the invasion front. However, condition factor for populations on the invasion front were higher suggesting that individuals in those populations were better fit than those from well-established populations.