Cecilia Carrea

Research

My research interests involve applying molecular genetic tools to help answer ecological and evolutionary questions. Currently, I am visiting Dr. Chris Burridge’s lab at the University of Tasmania, where I am analyzing mitochondrial DNA data from freshwater-limited galaxiid fishes on the South Island of New Zealand. The purpose is to understand how freshwater biodiversity is affected by geomorphological mechanisms allowing inter-drainage connectivity in the region.

My previous experience (PhD thesis, Comahue University, Argentina) included the development of microsatellite markers in order to examine the interaction among evolutionary forces (e.g., genetic drift and gene flow) and landscape features in Patagonia, and their role in shaping the neutral genetic structure among populations of a galaxiid fish in South America. I have also used mitochondrial DNA sequences in order to identify larvae of two Galaxias species at the Division of Evolutionary Molecular Systematics at Lund University in Sweden (Licenciatura thesis, Comahue University, Argentina).

Education

• Ph.D. in Biology from the Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina (2011)
• Licenciatura in Biology from the Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina (2005)

Publications

Carrea C, Burridge CP, King CK, Miller KJ (2016) Population structure and long-term decline in three species of heart urchins Abatus spp. near-shore in the Vestfold Hills region, East Antarctica . Marine Ecology Progress Series

Carrea C, Cussac VE, Ruzzante DE (2013) Genetic and phenotypic variation among Galaxias maculatus populations reflects contrasting landscape effects between northern and southern Patagonia. Freshwater Biology

Carrea C, Barriga JP, Cussac VE, Ruzzante DE (2012) Genetic and phenotypic differentiation among Galaxias maculatus populations in a Patagonian postglacial lake system. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Barriga JP, Battini MA, García-Asorey M, Carrea C, Cussac VE (2012) Among-population variation in growth and morphology of landlocked Galaxias maculatus during the limnetic period of its life history. Hydrobiologia.

Zemlak TS, Carrea C, Newton E, Paterson IG, Ruzzante DE (2012) Isolation and characterization of nine microsatellite markers for a galaxiid fish endemic to Patagonia. Molecular Ecology Resources.

Zemlak TS, Habit E, Walde SJ, Carrea C, Ruzzante DE (2010) Surviving historical Patagonian landscapes and climate: molecular insights from Galaxias maculatus. BMC Evolutionary Biology.

Carrea C, Paterson I, Cussac VE, Ruzzante DE (2009) Ten novel microsatellite loci characterized for a remarkably widespread fish: Galaxias maculatus (Galaxiidae). Molecular Ecology Resources.

Funding

• Argentinean National Research Council, CONICET (Consejo Superior de Investigación en Ciencia y Tecnología).
• YPF foundation.
• Linnaeus-Palme Exchange Program, Lund University, Sweden.
• Canadian Bureau for International Education, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT).

Presentations

Talk at the Southern Connection Congress, Dunedin, New Zealand (2013)

Talk at ASL 2012 Tasmanian Forum, Hobart, Australia (2012)

Talk at the Southern Connection Congress, Bariloche, Argentina (2010)

Poster at the Argentinean Congress of Limnology, Bariloche, Argentina (2007)

Poster at the Bi-national Ecology Meeting, La Serena, Chile (2006)

Poster at the Argentinean meeting of Cladistics and Biogeography, Trelew, Argentina (2005)

Field work

Cecilia Carrea – Northern Patagonia, Argentina