As the Ornithology and Mammalogy Senior Collection Manager, I manage over 140,000 bird and mammal specimens for scientific research. These specimens originate from all parts of the globe and range in size from an 80’ blue whale skeleton to tiny hummingbird eggs. My work involves various mammal and bird projects. Specifically, I serve as Principal Investigator on several grants supporting work with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, specifically the field collection of marine mammal data and specimens.
Search for Academy curators, collections managers, and research staff working to answer some of the world's most pressing scientific questions.
Field Associate
I am interested in the behavioral ecology of fishes, particularly in species that exhibit complex relationships with other organisms, and strong habitat dependencies. Currently I am working in the lab of Dr. Alison Gould on the genus Siphamia, a group of tiny cardinalfish that exhibit bioluminescence though symbiosis with light producing bacteria, and that rely on invertebrates such as sea urchins and corals for protection from predators.
Senior Research Associate, Invertebrate Zoology and Geology
Invertebrate Zoology, History of Science
Senior Curator of Invertebrate Zoology and Geology
Molluscan Evolution, Systematics and Diversification- Conservation of Marine Ecosystems
Research Scientist
I study the evolutionary ecology of a bioluminescent symbiosis between coral reef fish in the genus Siphamia and luminous bacteria. My research integrates natural history and ecology with genomics to understand how this highly specialized association evolved and how host-symbiont specificity is maintained over time and space. Working with the Steinhart Aquarium, I am also developing this gut-associated symbiosis as a tractable model system to investigate the mechanisms regulating the complex relationships between animals and beneficial bacteria.
Senior Collection Manager, Entomology
Lepidoptera
As collection manager I'm generally responsible for all entomology and arachnology collections, but have particular research interests in the Lepidoptera. Most of my work is focused on the Southwest USA, but focus on the Pyraloidea and assorted basal lineages. I teach annually at the Lepidoptera Course in Portal, Arizona.
Biodiversity Data Postdoctoral Researcher
Biogeography, Botany, Fire ecology, Data science
Avery is a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Biodiversity and Community Science at the CalAcademy, where they leverage vast amounts of community science data to model ecological patterns across diverse landscapes. In their PhD at Stanford they studied the concerted impacts of climate change and wildfire on the geographic distribution of California tree species. Avery's research is most broadly motivated by the need to understand the biological and ethical drivers that will shape the geographic patterning of future ecosystems.