A.B. cum laude, Cornell University 1998 (Biological Sciences)

Advisor:

Barry Chernoff, Ph.D.

Awards for the year 2001:

EPA STAR Graduate Fellowship
NSF Predoctoral Fellowship
National Merit Scholar
Tandy Technology Scholar

Research Interests:

biodiversity, conservation biology, ichthyology, morphometrics, systematics

Current Research:

I am combining phylogenetic reconstruction and morphometric analysis to investigate the morphological diversification of two families of South American freshwater fishes, the Anostomidae and Curimatidae. The Anostomidae possess high morphological diversity in their heads and jaws, while the closely related and equally species-rich Curimatidae all share similar morphologies. I am developing a method for quantifying morphological diversity in a phylogenetic framework, investigating how morphological diversity evolved along the anostomid and curimatid phylogenies and pinpointing when and why morphological diversity increased most greatly in the evolution of these families. My study will identify derived properties that may promote morphological diversification of particular groups and will help reveal why morphological diversity is not distributed evenly across the tree of life. My data will also carry broad implications for the genesis and conservation of morphological diversity in the most species-rich freshwater fish community in the world.

In the Pritzker lab, I am currently constructing a DNA sequence dataset to study the species-level phylogenetic interrelationships within the Anostomidae. These molecular data will complement a morphological dataset during phylogenetic reconstruction. I will use the resulting phylogeny as a framework in later morphometric analyses of morphological diversity.

Publications:

Sidlauskas, Brian L., Barry Chernoff and Antonio Machado-Allison. Geographic and environmental variation in Bryconops cf. melanurus (Ostariophysi: Characidae) from the Brazilian Pantanal. Submitted to Environmental Biology of Fishes, August 2002

Sidlauskas, Brian L., Barry Chernoff and Antonio Machado-Allison. 2002. Geographic and environmental variation in Bryconops cf. melanurus from the Brazilian Pantanal. Poster at the annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Kansas City, MO.