Recent Courses

ENVIRON 121 – Conservation of Biodiversity
ENVIRON 193 – Journal Club Seminars: Environment
ENVIRON 170 - Environmental Science Colloquium
EEB 114A – Ornithology
EEB 297 – Selected Topics in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Research Areas

Conservation Biology, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, Tropical Biology

Research Interests

Currently, my research focuses on:

1. Mechanisms of speciation,

2. Ecological and evolutionary aspects of vertebrate-mediated seed dispersal in the maintenance and dynamics of rainforests,

3. Molecular genetic approaches to investigating microevolutionary divergence and population genetic structure of migrant birds,

4. Evolution of resource polymorphisms,

5. Ecology of disease, and

6. Conservation biology.

Field sites include West and Central Africa; North, South, and Central America; and Australia.

In addition to my appointment in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, I am also the Director of the Center for Tropical Research (CTR), a part of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES).

Selected Publications

Bonneaud C, Marnocha E, Herrel A, Vanhooydonck B, Irshick DJ, Smith TB., "Developmental plasticity affects sexual size dimorphism in an anole lizard", Functional Ecology, - (2015) [link].

Ribiero RD, McCormack J, Alvarez H, Carrasco L, Grether G, Mena P, Sedano R, Smith TB, Karubian J., "Loss of sexual dimorphism is associated with loss of lekking behavior in the green manakin (Xenopipo holochora)", Journal of Avian Biology, 46 : 307-314 (2015) .

Larison BL, Harrigan RJ, Thomassen H, Rubenstein DI, Chan-Golston A, Li E, Smith TB, "How the zebra got its stripes: A problem with too many solutions", Royal Society Open Science, 2 : 140452- (2015) .

Lauron EJ, Loiseau C, Bowie RCK, Spicer GS, Smith TB, Melo M, Sehgal RNM., "Coevolutionary patterns and diversification of avian malaria parasites in African sunbirds (Family Nectariniidae)", Parasitology, 142 : 635-647 (2015) .

Harrigan RJ, Sedano R, Chasar AC, Chaves J, Nguyen JT, Whitaker A, Smith TB, "New host and lineage diversity of avian haemosporidia in the Northern Andes", Evolutionary Applications, 7 : 799-811 (2014) [link].

Chapman CA, Deluycker A, Reyna-Hurtado RA, Serio-Silva JC, Smith TB, Strier KB, Goldberg TL, "Safeguarding biodiversity: what is perceived as working according to the conservation community", Oryx, 7 : - (2014) [link].

Fuller TL, Ducatez MF, Njabo KY, Couacy-Hymann E, Chasar T, Aplogan GL, Lao S, Awoume F, Tehou A, Langeois Q, Krauss S, Smith TB, "Avian influenza surveillance in Central and West Africa, 2010-2014", Epidemiology and Infection, 7 : - (2014) [link].

Anthony NM, Atteke C, Bruford MW, Dallmeier F, Freedman A, Hardy O, Ibrahim B, Jeffery KJ, Johnson M, Lahm SA, Lepengue N, Lowenstein JH, Maisels F, Mboumba J, Mickala P, Morgan K, Ntie S, Smith TB, Sullivan JP, Verheyen E, Gonder MK, "Evolution and conservation of Central African biodiversity: priorities for future research and education in the Congo Basin and Gulf of Guinea", Biotropica, 47 : 6-17 (2014) .

Ruegg KC, Anderson EC, Paxton KL, Apkenas V, Lao S, Siegal RB, DeSante DF, Moore F, Smith TB, "Mapping migration in a songbird using high-resolution genetic markers", Molecular Ecology, 23 : 5726-5739 (2014) [link].

Chasar A, Harrigan RJ, Holbrook KM, Dietsch TV, Fuller TL, Wikelski M, Smith TB, "Spatial and temporal patterns of frugivorous hornbill movements in Central Africa and their implications for rainforest conservation", Biotropica, 46 : 763-770 (2014) .