Academy Research

Dr. HEALY HAMILTON is a biodiversity scientist at the California Academy of Sciences, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Geography at San Francisco State University. She is the founding director of the Center for Applied Biodiversity Informatics, a program that integrates biological and geospatial data for biodiversity research, conservation and education.  The Center’s focus is on the developing field of Conservation Biogeography, which investigates geographic patterns of biodiversity in the past, present, and future.

Curriculum Vitae

Healy  Hamilton, Ph.D.

California Academy of Sciences                                                                                       Tel  415.379.5202

55 Concourse Dr.                                                                                                            Fax 415.379.5745

San Francisco, CA  94118                                                                                hhamilton@calacademy.org

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Biodiversity conservation and education

Conservation biogeography; Ecological forecasting; Systematics, phylogeography, and conservation of cetaceans, seahorses and their relatives, and octopuses 

EMPLOYMENT

2002 -- Director, Center for Applied Biodiversity Informatics, California Academy of Sciences

APPOINTMENTS

2004--present   Adjunct Assistant Professor, Dept. of Geography & Human Environmental Sciences, SFSU

2001--2005       Research Associate, Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, UC Berkeley

EDUCATION

2001            Ph.D.  Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley

1992            M.Sc.  Environmental Studies, Yale University, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

1987            B.A.    Ecology, Behavior & Evolution, University of California, San Diego

COMMITTEES & COMMUNITY SERVICE (current)

Western Governors Association, Wildlife Corridors Initiative Climate Change Working Group

Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium, Chair, Science Committee

Bay Area Biosystematists, Steering Committee

National Center for Conservation Science & Policy, Science Advisory Board Member

PUBLICATIONS

Huffard, C., Saarman, N., Simison, W.B. & H. Hamilton. The evolution of conspicuous facultative mimicry in

            octopus: an example of secondary adaptation? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, In press

Saarman, N, K.D. Louie, & H. Hamilton.  Genetic differentiation across eastern Pacific oceanographic barriers in

            the threatened seahorse Hippocampus ingens. Conservation Genetics, In press

McDonald, M. & H. Hamilton. 2010. Phylogeography of the Angolan Black and White Colobus monkey, Colobus

            palliatus angolensis, in Kenya and Tanzania. American Journal of Primatology 71:1-10

Ackerly, D.D., Loarie, S.R., Cornwell, W.K., Weiss, S.B., Hamilton, H., Branciforte, R., and N.B.Kraft. 2010. The

geography of climate change: Implications for conservation biogeography. Diversity & Distributions: 16:476-487

Loarie, S.R., Duffy, P.B., Hamilton, H,, Asner, G.P., Field, C.B. & D.D. Ackerly. 2009. The velocity of climate

            change. Nature 462:1052-1055 

Fernandez, M.A., Blum, S.B., Reichle, S., Guo, Q., Holzman, B.A., & H. Hamilton. 2009. Locality

            uncertainty and the differential performance of four common niche-based modeling techniques.

            Biodiversity Informatics 6:36-62

Teske, P., Hamilton, H., Matthee, C. & N. Barker. 2007. Signatures of seaway closures and long-distance

dispersal in the phylogeny of a circumglobally distributed seahorse lineage. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7:138

Aliaga-Rossel, E., McGuire, T.L., & H. Hamilton. 2007. Distribution and relative abundance of the river dolphin

(Inia geoffrensis boliviensis) in the central Bolivian Amazon.  Journal of Cetacean Research and  

Management 8(1):87-92

Nikaido, M., Hamilton, H., Makimo, H., Sasaki, T., Takahashi, K., Goto, M., Kanda, N., Pastene, L. & N. Okada.  2006. Baleen whale phylogeny and a past extensive radiation event revealed by SINE insertion analysis.  Molecular Biology & Evolution, 23(5):866–873

Sasaki, T., Nikaido, M., Hamilton, H., Goto, M., Kato, H., Kanda, N., Pastene, L.A., Cao, Y., Hasegawa, M.,

Fordyce, R.E. & N. Okada. 2005. Mitochondrial phylogenetics and evolution of mysticete whales. 

Systematic Biology 54(1):77-90.

Teske, P.R., Hamilton, H., Palsbøll, P.J., Choo, C.K., Gabr, H., Lourie, S.A., Santos, M., Sreepada, A.,             Cherry,             M.I. & C.A. Matthee. 2005.  Molecular evidence for long-distance colonization in an Indo-Pacific             seahorse lineage.  Marine Ecology Progress Series, 286:249-260 

Lázaro, M, Lessa, E.P. & H. Hamilton. 2004.  Geographic genetic structure in the franciscana dolphin             (Pontoporia blainvillei).  Marine Mammal Science 20(2):201-214.

Hamilton, H., Caballero, S., Collins, A.G. & R.L. Brownell, Jr. 2001. Evolution of river dolphins.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences. 268: 549-556

Caballero, S., Hamilton, H., Jaramillo, C., Capella, J., Flórez-González, L., Olavarría, C., Rosenbaum, H.C.,

Guhl, F., & C.S. Baker.  2001. Genetic characterization of the Colombian Pacific Coast humpback whale population using RAPD and mitochondrial DNA sequences.  Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Australia 47(2):459-464.

Nikaido, M, Matsuno, F, Abe, H, Shimamura, M, Hamilton, H, Matsubayashi, H, & N. Okada. 2001.

Evolution of CHR-2 SINEs in cetartiodactyl genomes: possible evidence for monophyletic origin of toothed whales.  Mammalian Genome 12:909-15

Nikaido, M., Matsuno, F., Hamilton, H., Cao, Y., Brownell Jr., R.L., Ding, W., Zuoyan, Z., Shedlock, A.M.,

Hasegawa, M., & Okada, N.  2001. Retroposon analysis of major cetacean lineages:  the monophyly of toothed whales and the paraphyly of river dolphins.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98(13):7384-7389.

ACADEMIC MENTORSHIP

2008 – present            Mariana Padrón, Margarita, Venezuela. Masters degree, SF State University, Biology.

                        Phylogeography of two sympatric Atlantic seahorses.

2007 - present            Guillermo Durán, San José, Costa Rica. Masters degree, SF State University, Geography

Fragmentation of native Costa Rican tree species

2007-present            Miguel Fernandez, La Paz, Bolivia.  Ph.D., UC Merced, Environmental Systems

                        Uncertainty in ecological forecasting

2006 - present            Kelly Herbinson, San Francisco, CA. Masters degree, SF State University, Biology

Spatial ecology of California desert ants

2006 - present            Monica McDonald, San Francisco, CA. Masters degree, SF State University, Biology Phylogeography of Colobus angolensis pallidus in East Africa

2005-2006            Norah Saarman, UC Berkeley Conservation & Resource Studies, Senior honors thesis

                        Phylogeography of the Pacific seahorse, Hippocampus ingens

1998-2006            Susana Caballero, Bogotá, Colombia. Ph.D. degree, University of Auckland, New Zealand

                        Systematics and phylogeography of the tucuxi, Sotalia fluviatilis

1998-99                        Enzo Aliaga Rossel, La Paz, Bolivia. Masters degree, Universidad Mayor de San Andres

                        Distribution and abundance of the Bolivian Amazon river dolphin, Inia geoffrensis             

Locality uncertainty and the differential performance of four common niche-based modeling techniques.

https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/jbi/article/view/3314/3471

Date: 2007

Title: Signatures of seaway closures and long-distance dispersal in the phylogeny of a circumglobally distributed seahorse lineage

URL/Link: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/7/138

Date: 2007

Title: Distribution and relative abundance of the river dolphin

            (Inia geoffrensis boliviensis) in the central Bolivian Amazon

(no URL available)

Date: 2006

Title: Baleen whale phylogeny and a past extensive radiation event revealed by SINE insertion analysis

URL: http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/23/5/866

Date: 2005

Title: Mitochondrial phylogenetics and evolution of mysticete whales

URL: http://sysbio.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/54/1/77

Date: 2005

Title: Molecular evidence for long-distance colonization in an Indo-Pacific seahorse lineage

(no URL available)

Date: 2004

Title: Geographic genetic structure in the franciscana dolphin             (Pontoporia blainvillei)

URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119922238/abstract