Caitlin Karanewsky, PhD Candidate - Department of Ecology and Evolution
I graduated with a B.S. in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution from University of California San Diego in 2007, and am now a graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. For my dissertation, I have been studying the ecology of hibernation and daily torpor in the brown mouse lemur, Microcebus rufus. I am combining data collected through mark-recapture and radio-tracking methods in and around Ranomafana National Park and data collected remotely at the Zurich Zoo in order to determine the causes of and controls on variation in torpor use patterns in eastern rain forest mouse lemurs. Patterns of use of hibernation and daily torpor vary widely between different species, different populations, and even individuals within a population of mouse lemurs. Determining the causes of those differences will hint at the evolutionary processes that have shaped mouse lemur behavior and the potential effects of climate change and habitat disturbance on mouse lemur populations in the future.
I have received generous grants from Primate Conservation, Inc., Margot Marsh Biodiversity foundation, and the George C. Williams Departmental Award in support of my research.
I am broadly interested in research in behavioral ecology and conservation, and the synthesis of captive and wild research in order to answer questions that cannot be answered in one setting alone.
I enjoy teaching students at all levels, and have taught and worked as a TA for a variety of courses in Undergraduate Biology at Stony Brook University. I co-instructed the first online section of BIO 201:Fundamentals of Biology: Organisms to Ecosystems in summer 2012. As a teaching assistant for BIO 204: Fundamentals of Scientific Inquiry, BIO 359:Behavioral ecology, and BIO 319:Landscape ecology, I taught lab sections, lectured, wrote and administered quizzes and exams, graded writing assignments and exams. I also worked as a course coordinator for BIO 204, assisting faculty in managing a lab course for 800+ students, filming and producing course podcasts, and designing lab protocols.
Karanewsky, C.J., Atsalis, S., and Wright, P.C. The effects of resource abundance on early dry season capture rate in mouse lemurs. Poster presentation at International Primatological Society congress. 2012. Cancun, Mexico.
Karanewsky, C.J., Bauert, M., and Wright, P.C. Plasticity of energy conservation strategies in a heterothermic primate: a synthesis of wild and captive research. Oral presentation at International Primatological Society congress. 2012. Cancun, Mexico.