Institution

Solny Adalsteinsson
Principal Investigator and Staff Scientist, Tyson Research Center, WashU
Primary subject of interest: Urban ecology, disease ecology, ticks, birds, small mammals
Primary geographic interest: Midwest and mid-Atlantic US
LEC Seed Grant Projects

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

Matthew A. Albrecht
Scientist, Director of Center for Conservation & Sustainable Development, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Plant conservation, threatened plants and communities
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: North America (Ozarks and Southeastern US)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Grassland
LEC Seed Grant Projects

Robert Aldridge
Professor Emeritus of Biology, Saint Louis University; Researcher, Saint Louis Zoo
Primary subject of interest: Herpetology, conservation
Primary geographic area of interest: Guam, Mexico

Whitney Anthonysamy
Associate Professor of Biology, University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy
- Email: whitney.anthonysamy@uhsp.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Urban ecology, population ecology, conservation biology, herpetology
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: United States (Saint Louis, Missouri)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Freshwater, Urban areas

Kathleen Apakupakul
Research Associate, Institute for Conservation Medicine, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: apakupakul@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Conservation medicine, one health
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global (Africa, North America, South America)
LEC Seed Grant Projects

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

Cheryl Asa
Affiliate Scientist, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: asa@stlzoo.org
Primary subject of interest: Reproductive and behavioral sciences
Primary geographic area of interest: Latin America, Mexico

John J. Atwood
Assistant Curator of Bryophytes, Herbarium, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject of interest: Bryology
Primary geographic area of interest: North America

Matthew Austin
Curator of Biodiversity Data, Herbarium, Missouri Botanical Garden
- Email: maustin@mobot.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Herbaria, global change biology, hyperspectral botany, phenology, ecology
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Grassland, Urban Areas, Botanic Gardens and Herbaria

Eli Baskir
Manager of Behavioral Sciences, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: baskir@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Animal behavior
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Zoos

Burgund Bassuner
Science Specialist, Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject of interest: Population genetics and plant conservation
Primary geographic area of interest: United States

Karen Bauman
Manager of Reproductive Sciences, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: kbauman@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: All species, especially canids and ungulates; reproduction, wildlife technologies
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Ex situ, North America, global
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Zoos

Yehuda Ben-Shahar
Professor, Biology Department, WashU
Primary subject(s) of interest: Evolutionary, molecular, and genetic analyses of animal behavior and sociality; The genetics of organismal resilience to environmental stress; Drosophila models of neuronal and psychiatric disorders
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global

John R. Bermingham Jr.
Associate Professor of Genetics, WashU School of Medicine
Primary subject(s) of interest: Conservation genetics, herpetology
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global

Peter Bernhardt
Research Associate of Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Pollination; Anthophilous insects (bees, beetles, syrphid flies, butterflies and moths); flowering plant groups (orchids and other petaloid monocots), montane wildflowers of the Himalayas; Proteaceae of Australia; plant systematics and phytogeography of the floras of southern Australia; redbuds and dogwoods of Missouri; pollination in urban versus rural flora native to North America; popular illustrations and depictions of flora and their pollinators from the 19th-21st century; the history of the writings of Charles Darwin and his contemporaries on floral adaptation/evolution; bee diversity on rural versus urban trees of redbud (Cercis canadensis) and dogwood (Cornus florida) in St. Louis and its counties
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: United States (Saint Louis, Missouri, Kansas), Australia (New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia), China (Kunming, Lijiang and Yulong (Yunnan))
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savana, Shrubland, Grassland, Montane>3000m

Chris Birkinshaw
Assistant Curator, Africa and Madagascar, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject of interest: Management of protected areas (including sustainable use of natural resources, forest restoration, monitoring, control of invasive plant species) and ex-situ plant conservation (including field gene-banks)
Primary geographic interest: Madagascar

Jared Bixby
Fred Saigh Director of Conservation Education, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: jbixby@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Community Engagement, Conservation Education
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: United States
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Urban areas

Stephen Blake
Assistant Professor, Biology Department, Saint Louis University
- Email: stephen.blake@slu.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Ecology and conservation of mega vertebrates
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Congo Basin, Galapagos Islands, Central Africa, Saint Louis, MO
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Grassland, Agricultural land, Urban areas
LEC Seed Grant Projects

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

Adrianus (Jacco) Boon
Professor, WashU School of Medicine
- Email: jboon@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Virology and virus ecology
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: USA
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest
LEC Seed Grant Projects

Arpita Bose
Associate Professor of Biology, WashU
- Email: abose@wustl.edu
Primary subject of interest: Microbial Ecology, Climate Change, Climate Action
Primary geographic interest: United States, Puerto Rico, Argentina, India

Emily Bowling
Conservation Education Liaison, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: bowling@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Palm oil sustainability, public education, local conservation
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Tropical rainforests, Forests, Agricultural land, Urban areas

Louise Bradshaw
Retired Director of Education, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: bradshawrl@yahoo.com
Primary subject(s) of interest: Climate change education, enhancing biodiversity, community-based conservation engagement, nature-based education, urban biodiversity
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Saint Louis region (Missouri)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Urban biodiversity

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

Andrew Brown
Professor of Spanish, WashU
- Email: abrown@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Science and Literature in Latin America, Ecocriticism
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay

Mónica Carlsen
Scientist 2 - Education Program Manager, Missouri Botanical Garden
- Email: monica.carlsen@mobot.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Plant diversity and evolution, systematics, phylogenomics, pollination biology
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Neotropics (emphasis on Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia and Brazil)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest
LEC Seed Grant Projects

Bruce Carlson
Professor of Biology, WashU
- Email: carlson.bruce@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Sensory and evolutionary neuroscience in electric fish
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Sub-Saharan Africa
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Freshwater

Bob Coulter
Director, Litzsinger Road Ecology Center, Missouri Botanical Garden
- Email: bob.coulter@mobot.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Youth civic engagement and place-based education
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Grassland, Freshwater
LEC Seed Grant Projects

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

Gautam Dantas
Conan Professor in Laboratory and Genomic Medicine, WashU School of Medicine
- Email: dantas@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: (1) Understanding how diverse microbiomes respond to chemical and biological perturbations, (2) harnessing these insights to rationally design therapeutic strategies to curtail antibiotic-resistant pathogens and remedy pathological microbiome states, and (3) engineering microbial catalysts to convert renewable biomass into value chemicals such as biofuels and pharmaceuticals.
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: United States, El Salvador, Peru, Pakistan, Niger, South Africa, Republic of Congo, Netherlands, China, India
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Freshwater, Agricultural lands, Urban areas, Built environment

Michael Dawson
Conservation Education Liaison, Education Department, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: dawson@stlzoo.org
Primary subject of interest: Urban Amphibian Conservation, Anuran Conservation, Bioacoustics
Primary geographic interest: United States, Missouri - Saint Louis
LEC Seed Grant Projects

Sharon Deem
Director, Saint Louis Zoo Institute for Conservation Medicine
- Email: deem@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: One health, conservation medicine
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global with current emphasis areas in USA, Ecuador, Brazil, Kenya, Madagascar
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Grassland, Freshwater, Marine, Agricultural land, Urban areas, Zoos
LEC Seed Grant Projects
- Ecological Niche Modeling to Examine the Interactions Between Climate-related Environmental Change, Food Security, Landscape Diversity and an Emerging Infectious Disease
- Expanding the Toolset for Chelonian Conservation: Understanding the Diversity, Distribution and Dynamics of Box Turtle Microbiomes
- Quantifying Effects of Parasites on Ecosystem Nutrient Cycling
- Reducing Human-Wildlife Conflict in East Africa Using Participatory Action Research
- Using iDNA to Increase the Protected Status of the Djeke Triangle and Enhance Disease Surveillance in the Congo Basin
- Going Wild in Forest Park: Tracking the Movement of Wildlife and Disease in an Urban Food Web

Anthony Dell
Research Scientist, National Great Rivers; Affiliated Faculty, Biology, Saint Louis University; Visiting Scholar, Biology, WashU
- Email: tonyidell@gmail.com
Primary subject of interest: Community ecology, temperature, metabolic scaling, behavior
Primary geographic range of interest: Global, with current work in Saint Louis, Nebraska, Tahiti, Iceland, and Australia
LEC Seed Grant Projects

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

Michael Diamond
The Herbert S. Gasser Professor Departments of Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, Pathology & Immunology, WashU School of Medicine
- Email: diamond@wusm.wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Virus-host interactions; Mosquito-transmitted arboviruses
Primary geographic area of interest: USA

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

Ashley Edes
Animal Welfare Scientist, Department of Reproductive and Behavioral Sciences, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: aedes@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Animal welfare, stress, behavior, endocrinology, physiology, biomarkers, animal wellbeing, visitor effects, primatology, allostatic load
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Zoos

Christine Edwards
Stephen and Camilla Brauer Conservation Geneticist, Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Missouri Botanical Garden
- Email: Christine.Edwards@mobot.org
Primary subject of interest: Conservation genetics, molecular systematics, phylogeography, DNA metabarcoding, quantitative genetics, understanding response of plants to environmental stress (focusing mainly on plants of conservation concern)
Primary geographic interest: Americas and islands of the western Indian Ocean (Madagascar and the Mascarenes)
LEC Seed Grant Projects
- Biodiversity of Freshwater Mussels of the Upper Sangamon River (Illinois): Community Science in Action
- Integrating Stable Isotopes and DNA Metabarcoding of Cave Guano to Develop a Unique Paleoenvironmental Archive for the Humid Tropics
- The Search for Critically Endangered Possibly Extinct Ecuadorean Frogs using eDNA

Justin Elden
Curator of Herpetology & Aquatics, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: elden@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Herpetology, Conservation Biology, Cave Biology
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Via the Saint Louis Zoo(Missouri, Armenia, Ecuador) and externally (Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ukraine, Puerto Rico)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Grassland, Freshwater, Caves and subterranean habitats, Deserts, Urban areas, Zoos

Kate Farley
Assistant Scientist, William L. Brown Center
- Email: kfarley@mobot.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Ethnobotany, traditional ecological knowledge, community-based conservation, North American biodiversity, invasive species
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: United States (Appalachia, the Ozarks)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Agricultural land

David Fike
Glassberg/Greensfelder Distinguished University Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Science, WashU
Primary subject(s) of interest: Biogeochemical cycling in modern/ancient marine sediments and soils
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global--currently: Australia, Canada, France, French Guiana, Estonia, Lithuania, Italy, New Zealand, Namibia, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Sweden, US
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Freshwater, Marine, Soils

Gunter Fischer
Senior Vice President Science & Conservation,, Missouri Botanical Garden
Primary subject(s) of interest: Ecosystem functioning, Plant species in situ/ex situ conservation, Systematic and evolutionary botany, Urban greening
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Madagascar

Martha Fischer
General Curator and Director of WildCare Institute Center for Conservation in the Horn of Africa, Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park
- Email: Fischer@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: All Horn if Africa wildlife including Grevy's zebra, hirola, black rhino, mountain nyala, giraffe, African wild ass, and Ethiopian wolf; southeast Asian wildlife, such as banteng; local Missouri wildlife and urban biodiversity
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Horn of Africa, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somaliland
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Savanna, Grassland, Deserts, Urban areas
LEC Seed Grant Projects

Marc Fourrier
The Jane Goodall Institute, Great Ape Conservation Director
- Email: mfourrier@janegoodall.org
Primary subject of interest: Conservation biology, Tropical forest ecology, Seed dispersal ecology, Great ape conservation
Primary geographic interest: Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Liberia, Senegal, Mali, Guinea

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

Michael Frachetti
Professor of Archaeology, WashU
- Email: frachetti@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Anthropology, Archaeology, Asia, Human Ecology, Grassland ecology, Tropical jungles
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Asia-Pacific (Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Grassland, Deserts, Urban areas, Mountains

Ashley D. Franklin
Program Analyst, AZA Reproductive Management Center, Saint Louis Zoo
- Email: franklin@stlzoo.org
Primary subject(s) of interest: Reproductive biology and management, genetics, endocrinology, applied statistics, mammals (particularly felids and canids)
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Global; wild and captive populations
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Zoos and Aquariums

Gayle Fritz
Professor Emerita of Archaeology, WashU
- Email: gjfritz@wustl.edu
Primary subject(s) of interest: Agriculture, plant domestication, archaeobotany, ethnobotany, and conservation
Primary geographic area(s) of interest: Mexico, United States (Mississippi River valley, St Louis Metro area, SE and Southwest US)
Habitats and Ecosystems of interest: Forest, Savanna, Grassland, Freshwater, Deserts, 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