Shrubland

Julián Aguirre-Santoro
Assistant Curator of Vascular Plants, Latin America Herbarium, Missouri Botanical Garden
- Email: jaguirre-santoro@mobot.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Plant systematics and floristics
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Colombia, Brazil, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Suriname, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Deserts

Wendy Applequist
Associate Scientist, William L. Brown Center, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject of interest: Plant taxonomy, medicinal plants, natural product discovery
Primary geographic interest: United States, Madagascar
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest ,Savanna, Shrubland

David Bogler
Research Associate, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Plant systematics, floristics, molecular systematics, anatomy, microscopy, ecology, sustainability, palynology, teaching
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: USA, Mexico
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Deserts, Agricultural land, Urban areas

John Brinda
Assistant Scientist, Herbarium, Missouri Botanical Garden
- Email: john.brinda@mobot.org
Primary subject of interest: Ecology, taxonomy, and conservation of bryophytes
Primary geographic area of interest: USA, Madagascar, Philippines
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Deserts

Tom Croat
P.A. Schulze Curator of Botany, Latin America, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Systematics and Ecology of Araceae; Phenology of flowering and fruiting in tropical ecosystems
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Neotropics
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest ,Shrubland, Grassland, Agricultural land

Karen DeMatteo
Research Affiliate, WildCare Institute at the Saint Louis Zoo / Academic Advisor, Biology Department, WashU / Conservation Detection Dog Handler/Trainer, A K9 Nose Knows
- Email: KarenDeMatteo@outlook.com
Primary subject(s) of interest: Ecology, conservation, and management of predator-prey species using noninvasive techniques
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: United States (South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Nebraska, and San Francisco), South America (Argentina), & Asia (Bhutan)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Shrubland, Grassland, Agricultural land, Urban areas, Monocultural plantations & fragmented ecosystems

Aimee Dunlap
Associate Professor, Biology Department, University of Missouri-Saint Louis
- Email: aimee.dunlap@umsl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Cognitive, behavioral, and urban ecology, mechanisms of decision making, pollination and foraging in bees and flies
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Shrubland, Grassland, Agricultural land, Urban areas, Zoos

Kasey Fowler-Finn
Associate Professor of Biology, Saint Louis University
Primary subject(s) of interest: Evolutionary ecology, behavioral ecology, vibrational communication, biotremology, climate change, evolution of complex traits, animal communication
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Saint Louis, Eastern North America
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Shrubland, Grassland, Agricultural land, Urban areas

Roy Gereau
Assistant Curator and Tanzania Program Director, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Floristics, plant taxonomy, and plant conservation
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Tanzania
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Urban areas

Robbie Hart
Director, William L. Brown Center, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Climate change impacts on plant ecology and human environmental knowledge systems; ethnobotany; montane and alpine; Madagascar; community-based conservation; food plants
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Himalaya; Hengduan/Mountains of Southwest China; Pacific Northwest; Madagascar
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Shrubland, Grassland, Agricultural land
LEC Projects
LEC Seed Grant Projects
- Biological Inventory and Conservation of Arevik National Park and Zangezur Sanctuary, Armenia
- Protecting Biodiversity and Human Health through Wild Edible Plants of Alandraza-Agnalavelo Sacred Forest, Madagascar
- Socio-economic and Cultural Adaptation to Biodiversity Loss and Climate Change: Analysis and Intervention Efficacy Study in Three Madagascar Subsistence Communities

Julie Hartell-DeNardo
Kevin Beckmann Curator of Carnivores and WildCare Center for Polar Bear Conservation Director, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: hartell@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Carnivore conservation, Carnidae, Felidae, Ursidae, Canidea, Pinnipedia
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Africa (Namibia, Somaliland, Tanzania, Kenya), Alaska
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Marine, Agricultural land

Nathan Jacobs
Professor, Computer Science & Engineering, WashU
- Email: jacobsn@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Computer Vision, Remote Sensing, Species Distribution Modeling
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Deserts, Agricultural land, Urban areas

Nisa Karimi
Assistant Scientist, Science and Conservation Division, Africa and Madagascar Program, Missouri Botanical Garden
- Email: nkarimi@mobot.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Plant ecology & evolution, pollination biology, conservation
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Madagascar, Tanzania, South Africa
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Deserts

Andreas (Andi) Kautt
Assistant Professor, Biology Department, WashU
- Email: kautt@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Evolutionary Genomics, Adaptation & Speciation, Animal Behavior
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Shrubland, Grassland, Freshwater

Liz Mallott
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, WashU
- Email: mallott@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: human and nonhuman primates, gut microbiome, host-microbe interactions, molecular and microbial ecology
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: United States, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Asia
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Urban Areas

Travis Mossotti
Assistant Director IT Research Systems, WashU
- Email: travis.mossotti@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Poetry & Environmental Stewardship; Interdisciplinary Conservation Programming; Language of Conservation
Primary geographic interest: United States
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Shrubland, Grassland, Freshwater, Marine, Deserts, Urban areas

Nezka Pfeifer
Museum Curator, Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum, Missouri Botanical Garden
- Email: npfeifer@mobot.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Museum studies, museum exhibitions, history, contemporary art, anthropology, conservation
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: All

Amy Pool
Curatorial Assistant, Latin America, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Floristics, sharing science, the importance of biodiversity and conservation, and the significance of global climate change with the local public, plant taxonomy, natural history collections use and curation
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Central America
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Agricultural land, Collection-based

Thomas (Cody) Prang
Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology, WashU
- Email: prang@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Paleoanthroplogy, functional morphology, bipedalism
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Africa, Asia, Europe
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland

Odean Serrano
Founder, Countering Wildlife Trafficking Institute
- Email: odean@cwtinstitute.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Environmental Security, Transnational Threats, Intelligence Fusion Analytics
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global, Central African Republic, Madagascar, United States, Mali*, Burkina Faso (*Support research remotely from US)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Freshwater, Marine, Caves and subterranean habitats, Deserts, Agricultural land, Urban areas

Adam Smith
Scientist in Global Change & Conservation, Missouri Botanical Garden
- Email: adam.smith@mobot.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Conservation biogeography and global change, using statistical models of populations, species, and ecosystems
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Deserts, Agricultural land
LEC Seed Grant Projects

Charlotte M. Taylor
Senior Curator, Monographic Studies, Latin America, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Neotropical Floristics and Biogeography, Taxonomy and Systematics of Rubiaceae
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Mexico, Central America, Antilles, tropical South America, Madagascar
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forests, Savanna, Shrubland

Tad Yankoski
Senior Entomologist, Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Insect biodiversity and conservation, citizen science, insect husbandry
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global, with a focus on animals of the tropics (Costa Rica) and USA (Missouri)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland, Deserts, Agricultural land, Urban areas, Zoos

Li-Bing Zhang
Curator, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Taxonomy, phylogeny, and evolution of ferns and lycophytes
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Old World/Global
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Shrubland, Grassland, Caves and subterranean habitats