Rachel Collin
Staff Scientist, Director of the Bocas Research Station
e-mail: collinr@si.edu
Link: Collin Lab
Link: Bocas del Toro Research Station
Address: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Attn: Rachel Collin
MRC 0580-08
Unit 9100 Box 0948
DPO AA 34002-9998
USA
Phone from the USA (domestic call) :703-487-3770 x8766
Telephone: +507 212-8766
FAX: +507 212-8790
Publications
Publications by Rachel Collin in STRI Bibliography
Research Interests
Evolution of marine invertebrate life histories, larval ecology, phylogeography, morphological integration through metamorphosis, invertebrate systematics.
Current Research
My current research focuses on the evolutionary causes and consequences of mode of development in marine gastropods. Mode of development (planktonic vs. benthic, feeding vs. non-feeding, encapsulated vs. free-living) has important consequences for dispersal, gene flow, speciation rates and extinction rates. However it is unclear what factors maintain the stunning diversity in mode of development that we observed in many groups of marine invertebrates. My research focuses on documenting the geographic and phylogenetic patterns in mode of development and combining these patterns with the results of laboratory experiments to test hypotheses about the factors driving its evolution.
Director, Bocas del Toro Research Station (BRS)
I have been the director of the BRS since 2002, during which time the station has grown from a small field site with limited facilities to the world-class tropical research station that it is today. The station receives over 300 scientific visitors from 20-25 countries each year and we offer support to marine, terrestrial, geological and anthropological research. My pet project at the station, the Training in Tropical Taxonomy program, is helping to train a new generation of taxonomists working on tropical marine organisms. The Bocas del Toro Biovidersity Database lists over 6000 species from the province and provides information, photos and locality information for most of those species. Current development of the outreach program, including web-resources for teachers and a self-guided nature walk will keep me busy in the near future.
Education and Degrees
2002 Ph.D., University of Chicago, Committee on Evolutionary Biology
1996 M.Sc. University of Washington Department of Zoology
1993 Sc.B. Aquatic Biology, Brown University; Magna cum Laude and departmental honors.
Selected Bibliography
Collin, R. and M. Miglietta. 2008. Reversing opinions on Dollo's Law. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 23(11): 602-609.
Miglietta, M. P., M. Rossi, and R. Collin. 2008. Hydromedusa blooms and upwelling events in the bay of Panama, Tropical East Pacific. Journal of Plankton Research. 30: 783-793.
Collin, R. Chaparro, O. R., Winkler, F. and D. Veliz. 2007. Molecular phylogenetic and embryological evidence that feeding larvae have been reacquired in a marine gastropod. Biological Bulletin 212: 83-92.
Collin, R. 2006. Sex ratio, life history invariants, and patterns of sex change in a family of protandrous gastropods. Evolution 60: 735-745.
Cipriani, R. and R. Collin. 2005. Life-history invariants with bounded variables cannot be distinguished from data generated by random processes using standard analyses. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 18(6): 1613-1618.
Collin, R. 2004. The loss of complex characters, phylogenetic effects, and the evolution of development in a family of marine gastropods. Evolution. 58 (7): 1488-1502.