Carla Cáceres Explained

Carla Eva Cáceres
Workplaces:University of Illinois
Alma Mater:Cornell University
Thesis Title:Egg bank dynamics and daphnid species diversity in Oneida Lake, New York
Thesis Url:https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/
Thesis Year:1997
Doctoral Advisor:Nelson G. Hairston, Jr.
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Carla Cáceres is a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign known for her research in population, community and evolutionary ecology, focusing on the origins, maintenance, and functional significance of biodiversity within ecosystems. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Ecological Society of America, and the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography

Education and career

Cáceres' interest in freshwater ecology was evident by the age of eight when she was collecting organisms from bodies of water near her house and looking at them under a microscope.[1] While an undergraduate at the University of Michigan she did her honor's thesis in John Lehman's laboratory on plankton found in Lake Michigan which led to co-authorship on a paper that was published in 1993.[2]

She earned her B.S. in biology from the University of Michigan (1991)[3] and earned her Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University in 1997.[4] From 1996 until 2001, she was an assistant professional scientist at the Illinois Natural History Survey.[5] Cáceres started at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1997, where she was promoted to full professor in 2012.

From 2012 to 2019, she co-directed the Orpheum Children's Museum Day Camp--"Girls Do Science!", an outreach program designed to engage young girls, grades 2nd-6th, in science activities.[6] [7]

Research

Cáceres conducts research into eco-evolutionary feedbacks on community assembly, especially in stormwater habitats,[8] and the community ecology of disease. Her graduate research was the first quantify the storage effect,[9] an ecological theory defining the co-existence of species within an ecological community. Cáceres assessed how the storage effect impacted the survival of two species of water fleas, Daphnia galeata mendotae and Daphnia pulicaria- a paper which in 1999 was awarded the Raymond L. Lindeman Award by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. She has also examined the role of dormancy on the survival of Daphnia eggs,[10] how genetic diversity in water fleas contributes to their survival in newly-colonized ponds,[11] [12] and variability in dispersal rates across species of zooplankton.[13] A portion of Cáceres' research considers how disease is spread across organisms, particularly how predation increases the spread of disease[14] and the role of increasing temperature on the growth and transmission of parasites.[15] [16] In 2020, Cáceres was involved in research using Dapnia pulex to assess the role of host exposure to parasitic diseases,[17] a topic noted by the press[18] [19] as of potential relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic given the potential transmission of disease across animal species.

Selected publications

Awards and honors

Notes and References

  1. 1999. ASLO AWARDS. ASLO Bulletin. en. 8. 1. 13–24. 10.1002/lob.19998113.
  2. Lehman. John T.. Cáceres. Carla E.. 1993. Food-web responses to species invasion by a predatory invertebrate: Bythotrephes in Lake Michigan. Limnology and Oceanography. en. 38. 4. 879–891. 10.4319/lo.1993.38.4.0879. 1993LimOc..38..879L. 1939-5590. 2027.42/109974. free.
  3. Web site: August 2019. Cáceres CV. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200919101415/http://publish.illinois.edu/cacereslab/files/2019/08/Caceres-CV-19_web.pdf . 2020-09-19 .
  4. Book: Caceres, Carla Eva. Egg bank dynamics and daphnid species diversity in Oneida Lake, New York.. 1997. 978-0-591-24025-2. English. 841775481.
  5. Web site: Illinois Natural History Survey Directory. 2021-07-19. www.inhs.illinois.edu.
  6. Cáceres, Carla E. "Carla Eva Cáceres." The Cáceres Lab. University of Illinois, Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
  7. Web site: June 2012 – Orpheum Children's Museum Day Camp – Girls Do Science – Graduates in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. 20 June 2012 . 2021-07-19. en-US.
  8. Holmes. Christopher J.. Cáceres. Carla E.. 2020. Predation differentially structures immature mosquito populations in stormwater ponds. Ecological Entomology. en. 45. 1. 97–108. 10.1111/een.12783. 0307-6946. free.
  9. Cáceres . Carla E. . Temporal variation, dormancy, and coexistence: A field test of the storage effect . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 19 August 1997 . 94 . 17 . 9171–9175 . 10.1073/pnas.94.17.9171 . 11038565 . 23092 . 1997PNAS...94.9171C . free .
  10. Cáceres. Carla E.. 1998. Interspecific Variation in the Abundance, Production, and Emergence of Daphnia Diapausing Eggs. Ecology. en. 79. 5. 1699–1710. 10.1890/0012-9658(1998)079[1699:IVITAP]2.0.CO;2. 1939-9170.
  11. Web site: July 19, 2016. Scientists watch water fleas take over new territory. live. 2021-07-19. ScienceDaily. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20210608211904/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160719123902.htm . 2021-06-08 .
  12. Holmes. Christopher J.. Pantel. Jelena H.. Schulz. Kimberly L.. Cáceres. Carla E.. 2016. Initial genetic diversity enhances population establishment and alters genetic structuring of a newly established Daphnia metapopulation. Molecular Ecology. en. 25. 14. 3299–3308. 10.1111/mec.13672. 27135775. 206183458. 1365-294X.
  13. Cáceres. Carla E.. Soluk. Daniel A.. 1 May 2002. Blowing in the wind: a field test of overland dispersal and colonization by aquatic invertebrates. Oecologia. en. 131. 3. 402–408. 10.1007/s00442-002-0897-5. 28547712. 2002Oecol.131..402C. 9941895. 1432-1939.
  14. Cáceres . Carla E. . Knight . Christine J. . Hall . Spencer R. . Predator–spreaders: Predation can enhance parasite success in a planktonic host–parasite system . Ecology . 2009 . 90 . 10 . 2850–2858 . 10.1890/08-2154.1 . 19886493 . en . 1939-9170.
  15. Web site: Fryling. Kevin. 2018-08-16. IU study suggests key factor is absent in disease-forecasting models. 2021-07-19. News at IU. en.
  16. Shocket. Marta S.. Vergara. Daniela. Sickbert. Andrew J.. Walsman. Jason M.. Strauss. Alexander T.. Hite. Jessica L.. Duffy. Meghan A.. Cáceres. Carla E.. Hall. Spencer R.. 2018. Parasite rearing and infection temperatures jointly influence disease transmission and shape seasonality of epidemics. Ecology. en. 99. 9. 1975–1987. 10.1002/ecy.2430. 29920661. 205780562. 1939-9170. 2027.42/145581. free.
  17. Stewart Merrill. Tara E.. Rapti. Zoi. Cáceres. Carla E.. 24 June 2021. Host Controls of Within-Host Disease Dynamics: Insight from an Invertebrate System. The American Naturalist. 198. 3. 317–332. 10.1086/715355. 0003-0147. 34403315. 236234019.
  18. Web site: How plankton hold secrets to preventing pandemics. ScienceDaily. en.
  19. Web site: Boulder. University of Colorado at. 2021-05-25. Infected Plankton Hold Secrets to Preventing Pandemics. 2021-07-19. SciTechDaily. en-US.
  20. Cáceres . Carla E. . Temporal variation, dormancy, and coexistence: A field test of the storage effect . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 19 August 1997 . 94 . 17 . 9171–9175 . 10.1073/pnas.94.17.9171 . 11038565 . 23092 . 1997PNAS...94.9171C . free .
  21. Web site: The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers: Recipient Details NSF - National Science Foundation. 2021-07-19. www.nsf.gov.
  22. Web site: 2015-11-16. Inaugural ASLO Fellows. 2021-07-19. ASLO. en-US.
  23. Web site: June 1 . Alison Mize on . Ecological Society of America announces 2016 fellows – The Ecological Society of America .
  24. Web site: Historic Fellows American Association for the Advancement of Science . www.aaas.org . en.