Luis De Leon Reyna
Area of Expertise
Evolutionary Ecology, Adaptive Radiation, Ecological Speciation, Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics, Population Genetics, Tropical Ecology, Biodiversity
Degrees
PhD, McGill University, Canada, 2011. Evolutionary Biology.
BSc, University of Panama, Panama, 2002. Biology.
Professional Publications & Contributions
- Aviles-Rodriguez K., Winchell K., De León L.F., and Revell L. 2021. Phenotypic response to a major hurricane in Anolis lizards in urban and forest habitats. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 133: 880–895.
- Castillo, A. M., Chavarria, K.A., Saltonstall, K., Arias, C.F.***, Mejía, L.C., and De León L.F. 2021. Salinity effects on the microbiome of a Neotropical water strider. Hydrobiologia.
- Arias C.S., Dikow R., McMillan 0.W. and De León L.F. 2021. De novo genome assembly of the electric fish Brachyhypopomus occidentalis (Hypopomidae, Gymnotiformes). Genome Biology and Evolution. 3(10).
- Elizondo-Lara L., Young J., Schliep K. and De León L.F. 2021. Brain allometry across macroevolutionary scales in squamates suggests a conserved pattern in snakes. Zoology. 146:125926.
- Castillo A.M. and De León L. F. 2021 . Evolutionary mismatch along salinity gradients in a Neotropical water strider. Ecology and Evolution. 11:5121–5134
- De León, L.F., Cornejo A., Gavilán R. and Aguilar C. 2020. Hidden biodiversity in Neotropical streams: DNA barcoding uncovers high endemicity of freshwater macroinvertebrates at small spatial scales. PLoS ONE 15(8): e0231683.
- Castillo A. M., K. Saltonstall, C. F. Arias, K. A. Chavarria, L. A. Ramírez-Camejo, L. C. Mejía, and L. F. De León. 2020. The Microbiome of Neotropical Water Striders and Its Potential Role in Codiversification. Insects: 578 11:578
- Beausoleil M.O., Frishko L.O., Raeymaekers J.A.M., M'Gonigle, L.K.M., Knutie S.A, De León L.F., Chaves J.A., Clayton, D.H., Koop, J.A.H., Podos J., Hendry A.P., Barrett R.D.H. 2019. Temporally varying disruptive selection in the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis). Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Biological Sciences 286: 20192290.
- De León, L.F. and Lopez O.R. 2016. Biodiversity beyond trees: Panama’s Canal provides limited conservation lessons for Nicaragua. Biodiversity and Conservation.
- Chaves, J.A., Cooper E.A., Hendry, A.P., Podos J., De León, L.F., Raeymaekers J.A.M., McMillan O.W. and Uy, J.A.C. 2016. Genomic variation at the tips of the adaptive radiation of Darwin’s finches. Molecular Ecology.
- Martínez C., Chavaría C., Sharpe D.M.T. and De León, L.F. 2016. Low predictability in colour polymorphism in introduced guppy (Poecilia reticulata) populations in Panama. PLoS ONE 11(2): e0148040. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148040
- De León, L.F., Podos J., Tariq G., Herrerl A., and Hendry A. P. 2014. Darwin’s finches and their diet niches: the sympatric co-existence of imperfect generalists. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 27:1093-104.
- De León, L.F., Rolshausen G., Bermingham E., Podos J., and Hendry A. P. 2012. Individual specialization and the seeds of adaptive radiation in Darwin’s finches. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 14:365–380.
- De León, L.F., Raeymaekers J., Bermingham E., Podos J., Herrel A, and Hendry A. P. 2011. Exploring possible human influences on the evolution of Darwin’s finches. Evolution, 65: 2258–2272.
- De León, L.F., Bermingham E., Podos J., and Hendry A. P. 2010. Divergence with gene flow as facilitated by ecological differences: within-island variation in Darwin’s finches. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B. Biological Sciences, 365: 1041–1052.
- Hendry, A.P., Huber S.K., De León L.F., Herrel A. and Podos J. 2009 Disruptive selection in a bimodal population of Darwin's finches. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Biological Sciences, 276: 753–759.
Additional Information
Luis De León is an evolutionary biologist broadly interested in understanding the processes that promote, maintain and constrain the diversity of life. He's also interested in how anthropogenic disturbances and global change could affect evolutionary processes in natural populations. He addresses these topics in the context of highly-diverse neotropical environments, which contain most of the Earth's biodiversity. Particularly, he focuses on organisms undergoing adaptive radiation such as Darwin's finches of the Galápagos (Ecuador) and freshwater fishes from Panama. He is also interested in expanding these topics to temperate organisms.
Honors:
- Selected member of the National Research System (SNI) of Panama.
- Research associate at INDICASAT, Panama.