Mel Zarate

Melissa Zarate is a Ph.D. student in the Anthropology Department. Mel is an ecologist and primatologist that has been working in Dr. Christopher Schmitt’s lab since beginning her master’s in ecology, behavior, and evolution in 2018 at BU. She is currently investigating the population structure and genetic diversity of the Critically Endangered Peruvian yellow-tailed woolly monkey using samples that she collected in Peru during her field season in 2019, and samples she intends to collect in future field seasons. With the goal of contributing her research to conservation efforts, Mel is interested in how the genetics of different subpopulations of the species may be impacted by habitat fragmentation and geographic barriers using novel landscape mitogenomic methods. To learn more about Zarate’s research and publications, visit her webpage.

In Spring 2024, Mel received a CISS Summer mini-grant to support her efforts in collecting genetic data by sequencing mitochondrial DNA (maternally inherited genetic information) and a fragment of the Y chromosome (paternally inherited information). Having data representative of female and male lineages will give an in depth insight into population structure present in the species in comparison to potentially fragmenting landscapes. It was also reveal if there is sex-specific bias in the migration patterns of this species, and which, if any, sex is contributing more to gene flow between populations. Learn more in our featured article.