Beth Slikas

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Elizabeth "Beth" Slikas (born July 2, 1962 ) is an American biologist . Her research interests focus on the application of genetic data to clarify the evolutionary history of populations and species.

Life

In 1984 Slikas received her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in physics with magna cum laude . From 1984 to 1988 she was a teaching assistant in the physics department and from 1990 to 1996 teaching assistant in the biological department of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1996, she was with the thesis Phylogeny and evolution of the avian family Ciconiidae for Ph.D. PhD in biology . From September 1996 to March 1997, she and Jon Fjeldså and Peter Arctander from the University of Copenhagen researched the speciation of African mountain forest birds based on mitochondrial sequence data. From April 1997 to September 2001, she conducted research with Robert C. Fleischer from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park on the systematics and biogeography of a collection of extinct endemic walleye species from the Hawaiian Islands . From September 2001 to September 2005 she was manager in the Laboratory for Molecular Systematics at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ) at the University of California, Berkeley . From September 2005 to June 2006 she worked as a research assistant in the Department of Insect Biology. From June 2006 to 2010 she was a scientist in the virology group at the Blood Systems Research Institute in San Francisco , California. She has been with Oregon State University 's Marine Mammal Institute since 2010 .

Slikas does research on a wide variety of different organisms, including birds, viruses, and whales. Her projects include the comparison of mitochondrial DNA sequences and data from DNA-DNA hybridization in deriving a phylogenesis for stork species (Ciconiidae), the use of mitochondrial DNA sequences to understand the relationships within the titmouse family (Paridae) and the identification of cryptic ones species within this group that extracting DNA from bone and museum specimens to determine the origins of a group of extinct flightless Rail species of the Hawaiian Islands as well as the application of a metagenomic analysis and sequencing of the next generation for the investigation of novel viruses in human and animal faeces . In 2000, together with Robert C. Fleischer, she carried out an mtDNA analysis on Micronesian spectacled birds , which led to the separation of the rota-eyeglass bird ( Zosterops rotensis ) from the bridle-eyed bird ( Zosterops conspicillatus ). In another DNA study with Helen Frances James , Storrs Lovejoy Olson and Frank B. Gill , Slikas was able to show in 2003 that the taxon Pseudopodoces humilis does not belong to the corvidae , as previously assumed , but to the tits. The original German common name cave jay was therefore changed to Tibetan tit.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ B. Slikas, FH Sheldon, FB Gill. 1996. Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): I. Estimate of relationships among subgenera based on DNA-DNA hybridization . In: Journal of Avian Biology 27: p. 70-82.
  2. ↑ Gill, FB, B. Slikas, FH Sheldon. 2005. Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): II. Species relationships based on sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. In: Auk 122: S. 121-143.
  3. ↑ Sheldon, FH, B. Slikas, M. Kinnarney, FB Gill, E. Zhao, and B. Silverin. 1992. DNA-DNA hybridization evidence of phylogenetic relationships among the major lineages of Parus. In: Auk 109: S. 173-185.
  4. ↑ Slikas, B., SL Olson, RC Fleischer. 2002. Rapid, independent evolution of flightlessness in four species of Pacific Island rails (Rallidae): An analysis based on mitochondrial sequence data. In: Journal of Avian Biology 33: p. 5-14.
  5. ↑ Beth Slikas, Isaac B. Jones, Scott R. Derrickson & Robert C. Fleischer: Phylogenetic relationships of Micronesian white-eyes based on mitochondrial sequence data In: The Auk. April 2000. pp. 355-365
  6. ↑ James, HF, PGP Ericson, B. Slikas, FM. Lei, FB Gill, and SL Olson. 2003. Pseudopodoces humilis, a misclassified terrestrial tit (Paridae) of the Tibetan Plateau: evolutionary consequences of shifting adaptive zones. In: Ibis 145: pp 185-202.
personal data
SURNAME Slikas, Beth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Slikas, Elizabeth (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 2nd, 1962