I am the acting collections manager for the the Department of Ornithology and Mammalogy at the California Academy of Sciences.

In my research, I plan to investigate the coevolution between birds and their parasitic mites, specifically those mites that are associated with feathers. There are two main types of mites that live on or in bird feathers. Quill mites live inside the quill of the feathers and feather mites are ectoparasitic scavengers on the exterior of the feathers.  Avian mites generally complete their life-cycle on a single host, and host-to-host transfer normally occurs in the nest from parent to offspring.  Because of these life history strategies it is very probable that feather mites have coevolved with their hosts.  It has also been noted that two and sometimes three closely related mite species can be found on the same bird. This might indicate that the parasite exhibits a faster rate of speciation than does the host.