Gerardo Antonio Cordero, Dr.
Academic Positions
- since 2018: Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow at Universität Tübingen
- 2015-2017: Postdoctoral Scholar. Department of Biology, Lund University, Sweden.
- 2009-2015: Graduate Research Assistant. Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, USA.
- 2009: Research Intern. Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
- 2008-2009: Research Assistant. Ichthyology Museum, Oregon State University, USA.
- 2008: Undergraduate Research Fellow. Jug Bay Wetlands-National Estuarine Research Reserve, USA.
Education
- 2015: PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Iowa State University, USA.
- 2009: BS in Environmental Sciences, Oregon State University, USA.
- 2006: Certificate in Environmental Technology, College of Southern Maryland, USA.
Research Interests
Broadly speaking, I aim to address important conceptual gaps concerning the role of developmental biology in ecology and evolution. My research integrates comparative embryology, developmental genetics, comparative phylogenetic methods, and morphometrics. The central objectives of my research program are: i) To link macroevolutionary patterns with underlying ontogenetic processes; ii) To clarify how developing organisms, particularly reptiles, respond to environmental variability; iii) To quantify form-to-function relationships in extant species to then model form and function in ancestral fossil lineages. The latter is the current focus of my postdoctoral research project at Universität Tübingen.
Select publications
Cordero G.A., Sánchez-Villagra M.R., Werneburg I. 2020. An irregular hourglass pattern describes the tempo of phenotypic development in placental mammal evolution. Biology Letters 16: 20200087
Cordero G.A., Stearns S., Quinteros K., Berns C.M., Binz S. & F.J. Janzen 2019. The postembryonic transformation of the shell in emydine box
turtles. Evolution & Development. e12307.
Cordero G.A. 2018. Is the pelvis sexually dimorphic in turtles? The Anatomical Record. 301:1382-1389.
Cordero G.A., Quinteros K. & F.J. Janzen 2018. Delayed trait development and the convergent evolution of shell kinesis in turtles. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285:20181585.
Cordero G.A., Liu H., Wimalanathan K., Weber R., Quinteros K. & F.J. Janzen 2018. Gene network variation and alternative paths to convergent evolution in turtles. Evolution & Development. 20:172-185.
Cordero G.A., Telemeco R.S. & E.G. Gangloff 2017. Reptile embryos are not capable of behavioral thermoregulation in the egg. Evolution & Development. 20:40-47.
Cordero G.A. 2017. The turtle’s shell. Current Biology. 27:R163-R171.
Cordero G.A., Andersson B.A., Souchet J., Micheli G., Noble D.W.A, Gangloff E.J., Uller T. & F. Aubret 2017. Physiological plasticity in lizard embryos exposed to high-altitude hypoxia. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A. 327:423-432.
Cordero G.A. & C.M. Berns 2016. A test of Darwin’s “lop-eared rabbit” hypothesis. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 29:2102-2110.
Schwanz L., Cordero G.A., Charnov E.L. & F.J. Janzen 2016. Sex-specific survival to maturity and the evolution of environmental sex determination. Evolution. 70:329-341.
Cordero G.A. & K. Quinteros 2015. Skeletal remodeling suggests the turtle’s shell is not an evolutionary straitjacket. Biology Letters. 11:20150022.