Meet the Scientist

Name: Ana Carolina O. Q. Carnaval
Position/Title: Graduate Student, Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago
Department: Zoology

1. What do you study related to biodiversity (what are your research questions, what organisms do you work on)?

I study how much genetic diversity there is left in populations of frogs that are currently isolated in remnants of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. I am also interested in knowing how these isolated populations are related to each other. The Atlantic Forest is found along the eastern coast of Brazil and it is well-known for its extremely high number of species, many of which occur nowhere else on the planet. Unfortunately, it is vanishing at an extremely rapid rate.

By discovering how diverse and how divergent its remnant populations are, I want to provide innovative strategies for the conservation and management of this ecosystem. In order to do that, my project compares several populations of two species of frogs that are found only in forested areas of Brazil. Their scientific names are Proceratophrys boiei and Eleutherodactylus ramagii.

2. How do you study biodiversity (for example, what technological tools and methodologies do you use in your research)?

To compare levels and patterns of genetic diversity across natural populations of frogs in Brazil, I have been visiting several forest fragments in that country and collecting tissue samples per population per species. After obtaining appropriate permits from both the Brazilian and the US Governments, I transport the tissues to the Pritzker Lab at the Field Museum for biochemical analyses. In the laboratory, I am extracting DNA from those tissues and gathering DNA sequences. Once I obtain my sequences, I use computer programs to analyze them, comparing different populations in terms of their genetic diversity, and making inferences about their relationships and past history.

3. Where do you study biodiversity?

My project requires me to work both in the field and in the laboratory. My fieldwork is developed entirely in Brazil, more specifically in forests in the northeastern states of Pernambuco, Paraiba, Ceara, and Maranhao. These forest remnants differ in size and times of isolation. My laboratory work is carried out at the Pritzker Lab in the Field Museum, in Chicago.

4. How might your research have implications for biological conservation?

By documenting how much genetic diversity there is left in remnants of the Atlantic Forest, my project aims to provide insight about the consequences of habitat fragmentation and inform conservation in Brazil. Furthermore, it is generating relevant new data about the history of the amphibian fauna in NE Brazil, gathering information about past levels of gene flow among its populations.

5. How did you become interested in science? What made you want to be a scientist, and how did you get to The Field Museum?

I have been interested in science since my high school years, which led me to pursue a degree in Biology, and later a Master's in Zoology—both in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I joined the Field Museum as a volunteer in 1997. After being accepted as a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago in 1998, I became a graduate student associated with the Museum. My main advisor is Dr. John Bates, curator in the Bird Division and currently chair of the Zoology Department. Two other Field Museum curators are part of my dissertation committee. They are Dr. Harold Voris, curator in the Division of Amphibians and Reptiles, and Dr. Shannon Hackett, curator in the Bird Division.

6. Describe important collaborations for your scientific endeavors (describe your work with other researchers, organizations, or scientific groups, local or indigenous peoples, etc.)

I would not have been able to conduct my fieldwork without the help of several Brazilian scientists and institutions. The Laboratorio de Anfibios e Repteis at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro has been my primary contact in Brazil. In addition, I have been working closely with professors, graduate students and technicians that belong to several other Brazilian institutions, such as Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Universidade Federal do Maranhao, and IBAMA. Thanks to these many collaborations, we are generating new and important data about the status and the distribution of amphibians in Brazil, as well as finding new species that are currently in the process of being described.

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