Former Graduate Students

Mercer Brugler
Eric Pante
Jana Thoma
Esprit Heestand Saucier

Former Postdocs

Joris van der Ham
Rachel Clostio

Former Undergrads

 


Mercer R. Brugler

Mercer successfully defended his dissertation in December, 2010. He is now an assistant professor at the New York City College of Technology in New York.

Visit his lab website.

Education

B.S. in Marine Science/Biology, University of Miami, Florida
M.S. in Marine Biology, College of Charleston
Ph.D. in in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette


A deep-sea black coral (Bathypathes sp. ) on the New England Seamounts, western North Atlantic (Photo courtesy of the Deep Atlantic Stepping Stones Science Party, IFE, URI-IAO, and NOAA).

  • Publications from graduate work

M.R. Brugler, D.M. Opresko, S.C. France. 2013. The evolutionary history of the order Antipatharia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) as inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA: implications for black coral taxonomy and systematics. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 169:312-361 (doi:10.1111/zoj.12060)

Wagner, D., M.R. Brugler, D.M. Opresko, S.C. France, A.D. Montgomery and R. Toonen. 2010. Using morphometrics, in situ observations and genetic characters to distinguish amongst commercially valuable Hawaiian black coral species; a redescription of Antipathes grandis Verrill, 1928 (Antipatharia: Antipathidae) Invertebrate Systematics 24: 271-290 (doi:10.1071/IS10004)

van der Ham, J.L., M.R. Brugler and S.C. France. 2009. Exploring the utility of an indel-rich, mitochondrial intergenic region as a molecular barcode for bamboo corals (Octocorallia: Isididae) Marine Genomics 2: 183-192 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margen.2009.10.002)

 

 

Thoma, J.N., E. Pante, M.R. Brugler and S.C. France. 2009. Deep-sea octocorals and antipatharians show no evidence of seamount-scale endemism in the NW Atlantic. Marine Ecology Progress Series 397: 25-35 (http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps08318)

Brugler, M.R. and S.C. France. 2008. The mitochondrial genome of a deep-sea bamboo coral (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Isididae): genome structure and putative origins of replication are not conserved among octocorals. Journal of Molecular Evolution 67:125-136 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00239-008-9116-2)

Brugler, M.R. and S.C. France. 2007. The complete mitochondrial genome of the black coral Chrysopathes formosa (Cnidaria:Anthozoa:Antipatharia) supports classification of antipatharians within the subclass Hexacorallia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 42: 776-788 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2006.08.016)

Daly, M., M.R. Brugler, P. Cartwright, A.G. Collins, M.N. Dawson, S.C. France, C.S. McFadden, D.M. Opresko, E. Rodriguez, S. Romano, J. Stake. 2007. The phylum Cnidaria: A review of phylogenetic patterns and diversity 300 years after Linnaeus. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. & Shear, W.A. (Eds) (2007) Linnaeus Tercentenary: Progress in Invertebrate Taxonomy. Zootaxa 1668: 127-182 (open access pdf)

 


Eric Pante

Eric successfully defended his dissertation in April, 2011. He is now a researcher (CNRS) at the Université de La Rochelle in France.


Visit his website here.

Education

D.E.U.G., Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France
B.S. in Marine Biology, College of Charleston
M.S. in Marine Biology, College of Charleston
Ph.D. in in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette


Above: Close-up of Metallogorgia melanotrichos and its ophiuroid epibiont.

  • Publications from graduate work

E. Pante, E. Heestand Saucier and S.C. France. 2013. Molecular and morphological data support reclassification of the octocoral genus Isidoides. Invertebrate Systematics 27:365-378 (doi: dx.doi.org/10.1071/IS12053)

E. Pante, S.C. France, A. Couloux, C. Cruaud, C.S. McFadden, S. Samadi and L. Watling. 2012. Deep-sea origin and in-situ diversication of chrysogorgiid octocorals. PLoS ONE 7: e38357 [14 pp] (Open Access: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038357)

E. Pante and L. Watling. 2012. Chrysogorgia from the New England and Corner Seamounts: Atlantic-Pacific connections. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 92(5): 911-927 doi:10.1017/S0025315411001354

McFadden, C.S., Y. Benayahu, E. Pante, J.N. Thoma, P.A. Nevarez and S.C. France. 2011. Limitations of Mitochondrial Gene Barcoding in Octocorallia. Molecular Ecology Resources 11: 19-31

 

 

E. Pante and S.C. France. 2010. Pseudochrysogorgia bellona n. gen., n. sp.: a new genus and species of chrysogorgiid octocoral (Coelenterata, Anthozoa) from the Coral Sea. Zoosystema 32: 595-612

Thoma, J.N., E. Pante, M.R. Brugler and S.C. France. 2009. Deep-sea octocorals and antipatharians show no evidence of seamount-scale endemism in the NW Atlantic. Marine Ecology Progress Series 397: 25-35

T. Baker, E. Pante, E. Levesque, W. Roumillat, and I. de Buron. (2008) Metamicrocotyla macracantha, a polyopisthocotylid gill parasite of the striped mullet, Mugil cephalus: Population dynamics in South Carolina estuaries. Parasitology Research 102: 1085-1088

E. Pante, A. King, and P. Dustan (2008) Short-term decline of a bahamian patch reef coral community: Rainbow gardens reef 1991-2004. Hydrobiologia, 596(1):121–132

E. Pante, M. Adjeroud, P. Dustan, L. Penin, and M. Schrimm (2006) Spatial patterns of benthic invertebrate assemblages within atoll lagoons: importance of habitat heterogeneity and considerations for marine protected area design in french polynesia. Aquatic Living Resources, 19:207–217

T. Baker, E. Pante, and I. de Buron (2005) Co-occurrence of Naobranchia lizae (Copepoda) and Metamicrocotyla acracantha (Monogenea), gill parasites of the striped mullet Mugil cephalus. Parasitology Research, 97:515–52

 


Jana N. Thoma

Jana successfully defended her dissertation in September, 2013.  She is currently raising children and writing manuscripts.

Education

B.S. in Biology and Chemistry, Berry College
M.S. in Coastal Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi


Colony of the deep-sea coral Paramuricea

A colony of the deep-sea octocoral Paramuricea sp.  at 1139 meters depth in Lydonia Canyon, western North Atlantic (Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, 2013 Northeast U.S. Canyons Expedition).


 

 

  • Publications from graduate work

Gori, A., L. Bramanti, P. López-González, J. N. Thoma , J.-M. Gili, J. Grinyó, V. Uceira, & S. Rossi. 2012. Characterization of the zooxanthellate and azooxanthellate morphotypes of the Mediterranean gorgonian Eunicella singularis. Marine Biology 159:1485-1496 (DOI:10.1007/s00227-012-1928-3)

McFadden, C.S., Y. Benayahu, E. Pante, J.N. Thoma, P.A. Nevarez and S.C. France. 2011. Limitations of Mitochondrial Gene Barcoding in Octocorallia. Molecular Ecology Resources 11: 19-31

Thoma, J.N., E. Pante, M.R. Brugler and S.C. France. 2009. Deep-sea octocorals and antipatharians show no evidence of seamount-scale endemism in the NW Atlantic. Marine Ecology Progress Series 397: 25-35

 

 

 


Esprit N. Heestand Saucier

Esprit successfully defended her dissertation in May 2016. She is now an assistant professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

Visit her website here.

Education

B.A. in Zoology, Ohio State University
M.S. in Biological Sciences, Ohio State University
Ph.D. in in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette


Close-up of a deep-sea bamboo coral colony

A crinoid feather star perches on a bamboo coral colony at 1600 meters depth in Little Abaco Canyon, Bahamas. (Photo courtesy of  NOAA-OER).

 

 

Esprit at sea


  • Publications from graduate work

E. Heestand Saucier, A. Sajjadi, S.C. France. 2017. A taxonomic review of the genus Acanella (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Isididae) in the North Atlantic Ocean, with descriptions of two new species. Zootaxa 4323(3):359–390

E. Pante, E. Heestand Saucier and S.C. France. 2013. Molecular and morphological data support reclassification of the octocoral genus Isidoides. Invertebrate Systematics 27:365-378

 

 

 


Joris van der Ham

Former postdoc Joris is now on the adjunct faculty of the Department of Environmental Science & Policy at George Mason University in Virginia.

Education

M.S., University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• phylogenetics of gammarid amphipods
Ph.D., University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• functional morphology and evolutionary history of the injecting apparatus of remipede crustaceans


The primnoid octocoral Calyptrophora microdentata on Manning Seamount.

  • Lab Publications

van der Ham, J.L., M.R. Brugler and S.C. France. 2009. Exploring the utility of an indel-rich, mitochondrial intergenic region as a molecular barcode for bamboo corals (Octocorallia: Isididae) Marine Genomics 2: 183-192 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margen.2009.10.002)


Undergrads

Hunter L Bouillion

Biology Major
Department of Biology - UL Lafayette

• lab member 2014-2018

 

Alyssa C Marcel

Biology Major
Department of Biology - UL Lafayette

• lab member 2014-2017

 

Auzita Sajjadi

Biology Major
Department of Biology - UL Lafayette

• lab member 2011-2014
• Auzita went on to grad school at The University of Houston College of Optometry

 

Hannah Knott

Biology Major
Department of Biology - UL Lafayette

• lab member 2011-2013

 

Lance P. Renoux

Resource Biology/Biodiversity Major
Department of Biology - UL Lafayette

• lab member 2008-2010
• Lance
went on to grad school with Dr. Paul Sikkel at Arkansas State University