Lab Alumni

XIA Xue was a research associate in our group, for a year starting in October 2014. She received her Masters degree from the Restoration Ecology group at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in 2013, and also worked with Prof. Goodale at XTBG. In Guangxi, she studied the vocalizations of bird species in mixed-species flocks.  She now works in the Environmental Education Center of XTBG. She can be contacted at: xiaxue@xtbg.org.cn.

Kasun ABEYSINGHE was a Masters student at XTBG, advised by Prof. YANG Xiao-dong, and co-advised by Prof. Goodale and also by Prof. QIU Guangle of the Institute for Geochemistry, CAS. His project involved measuring mercury levels in animals across a rice-based food web in mining and non-mining regions of Guizhou Province. He is currently working in Sri Lanka. His ResearchGate profile is at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kasun_Abeysinghe.

GU Hao was a Research Associate in our lab in Guangxi University for two years from mid 2015 to mid 2017. Before that, he received his MSc from the Ecology and Evolution of Plant-Animal Interactions Group at XTBG, CAS; advised by CHEN Jin and co-advised by Prof. Goodale. As a MSc student, he analyzed the evolution of frugivore-fruiting tree networks, and conducted a playback experiment exploring the interaction of birds at mass-fruiting trees.

Rachakonda SREEKAR received his Master’s degree in 2014 from XTBG, CAS, supervised by Prof. Rhett D. Harrison and also Prof. Goodale. The main objective of his Masters project was to evaluate the effects of hunting on vertebrate extirpations in Xishuangbanna, China. During his PhD at the University of Adelaide, supervised by Prof. Lian Pin Koh, he worked on understanding the influence of spatial scale on beta diversity patterns. He is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Czech Republic Academy of Sciences.

Ari MARTÍNEZ was a postdoctoral fellow in our lab between January and July, 2017, until there was an opening in the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow of the University of California, Berkeley, which allowed him to return to his home state.

Emilio PAGANI-NÚÑEZ, Postdoctoral Fellow (3/15-10/16). Emilio is a field ornithologist with broad interests in avian behavior, ecology and evolution. In Guangxi, he collected data on bird foraging behavior, morphology, and aggressiveness. He is currently a Lecturer at Xian Jiaotong Liverpool University in Suzhou.  Explore his research at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Emilio_Pagani-Nunez2 and he can be reached by e-mail at emipanu@outlook.com. 

Craig BARNETT, Associate Professor (7/15-2/16). Craig is an evolutionary biologist interested in using insect and avian models to test various hypotheses in behavioral ecology and evolutionary ecology. After working with us for half a year, he moved to a new position at Kyoto University, Japan, and we continue to collaborate on projects.

MO Guowei has been working with our group for two years, first as an undergraduate volunteer and then as research associate after receiving his BSc in June 2017. At Guangxi University, he majored in animal science and has a keen interest in birds. He was the Vice President of the Animal Protection Association of Guangxi University and is now an investigator with the Guilin Natural Observation Association. He can be reached at 775003593@qq.com.

XIE Qiao did her MSc degree in the lab between September, 2016 and June, 2019. She received her bachelor degree from Hainan Normal University in July 2016, and obtained the title of outstanding graduate. Interested in both birds and behavior, she then started her MSc under the guidance of Associate Prof. JIANG Aiwu. Her MSc thesis project involved two projects that looked at the impact of humans on birds: one looking at how traffic noise might disrupt nestling birds’ begging, and another investigating how birds use human-made objects in their nests.

Tharaka Sudesh PRIYADARSHANA completed his MSC in the lab between September 2016 and June, 2019. Tharaka is dedicated to conservation and ecology and also passionate about the life history, distribution, behavior, and taxonomy of butterflies, odonates, herpetofauna, and orchids. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Sabaragamuwa, Faculty of Applied Science, Sri Lanka in December 2015. At Guangxi University, he studied agroecology under the guidance of Prof. Goodale and Dr. Myung-Bok Lee.

HE Chao, who has had a lifelong interest in birds, first became active with the lab as an undergraduate at Guangxi University, being advised by Associate Prof. JIANG Aiwu and working with Dr. Emilio Pagani-Núñez. He started a MSc degree in 2016, under the guidance of Prof. Goodale and Dr. SU Tongping, and graduated in June, 2019. His thesis project investigated the heavy metal concentrations in bird feathers in a mining region of Guangxi. His work in the lab has given him both extensive field experience with birds, as well as training in ecotoxicological lab methods.

ZHOU Wenjing was a MSc student with us between July 2015 and June 2018. She worked on a project about how plant diversity is influenced by agricultural crop diversity, advised by Myung-bok Lee and Eben Goodale. Now she is pursuing a PhD on agroecology at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, supervised by Prof. Santiago L. Poggio. She can be reached at: zhouwenjing724@foxmail.com. 

HE Ruchuan was a Masters student in the lab between September 2015 and June 2018. Under the guidance of Craig BARNETT and Eben GOODALE, he completed his master thesis on Batesian mimicry, determining how differences in mimicry-to-model frequency in prey influence predation by wild birds. After graduating in June 2018, he spent a year as Research Associate in the lab.

JIANG Demeng received his Master’s degree in 2015 from Southwest Forestry University in Kunming, Yunnan, China (supervised by LUO Xu and JIANG Aiwu), and started his PhD in September 2016. He has broad interests in avian behavioral ecology and biodiversity conservation. During his PhD, he described the flow of information between species in mixed-species bird flocks, and how birds respond to forest management, advised by Prof. Goodale. He also spent nine months overseas at the University of Florida, under the guidance of Prof.

SU Tongping was a postdoctoral fellow in our group from September 2017 to July 2019. He has broad interests in avian ecology and evolution, conservation biology, and reproductive ecology. During his time with us he concentrated on the levels of heavy metals, and particularly mercury, in birds, and the potential effects on bird reproduction. He is now an assistant research fellow at Nanning Normal University, and can be reached by e-mail at sutongping007@126.com.

Myung-Bok LEE was a postdoctoral fellow in our group between 2015 and 2018. She received her PhD from the University of Georgia, and did postdoctoral fellowships at Mississippi State University and University of Georgia. Most of her work and research interest have focused on understanding ecological processes (primarily avian diversity) in anthropogenic landscapes, with an emphasis on a landscape perspective and the use of advanced analytical methods.