EDUCATION

Cornell University, Ithaca NY, USA
Doctoral candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 1998 - to date
Advisor: Professor Thomas A. Gavin

Cornell University, Ithaca NY, USA
Masters of Science in Wildlife Biology, 1995 - 1998
Advisor: Professor Thomas A. Gavin

McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Bachelor of Science in Biology, 1990 - 1994
Advisors: Professors Don Kramer and Robert Peters

Collège Claparède, Geneva, Switzerland
Science maturité diploma (public high school), 1985 - 1989

AWARDS

EPA-STAR scholarship (1999)
Andrew Mellon Student Research Award (1998)
NSF Pre-doctoral scholarship (1995)
Penhallow Prize for highest academic grade of the graduating class in the Department of Biology, McGill University (1994).

RELATED EXPERIENCE

Graduate research                                                Aug. 1995 - present
Principle investigator. Effects of forest-pasture edges on amphibians and reptiles in Las Cruces, Costa Rica. Responsible for all logistics in the field, including two field assistants, collection of data, and analyses.

Research assistant                                                Jan. 1995 - May 1995
Dr. Ross Robertson and Dr. Kenneth Clifton, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, San Blas, Panama. Responsible for independent collection of behavioral data on the mating behavior of a coral reef fish, Stegastes leucostictus.

Research and laboratory assistant                       May 1994 - Dec. 1994
Late Prof. Robert Peters, McGill University, Canada and Dr. Robert France, currently at Harvard University. Assisted in the collection of field data for a study on the effects of deforestation upon nutrient cycling in the watersheds of oligotrophic lakes in NW Ontario. Served as the laboratory assistant and administrated Prof. Peters’ paperwork and accounting for six months during his sabbatical absence.

Independent research                                           Summer 1993
Professor Jeremy McNeil, Université de Laval, Canada, and Professor Don Kramer, McGill University. Investigated the relationship between  the fluctuating asymmetry in wings of male European corn borers (Ostrinia nubilalis) and female choice as part of an Honour’s thesis.

PUBLICATIONS

Schlaepfer, M.A. 1998. Use of a fluorescent powder marking technique on small terrestrial anurans. Herpetological Review 29:25-26. more on this paper

Schlaepfer, M.A. and R. Figeroa-Sandí 1998. Female reciprocal calling in Eleutherodactylus podiciferus. Copeia 1998:1076-1080. more on this paper

Schlaepfer, M.A. and J. McNeil 2000. Are virgin male lepidopterans more successful in mate acquisition than previously mated individuals? A study of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Canadian Journal of Zoology.78:2045-2050. more on this paper

Schlaepfer, M.A. and T.A. Gavin (in press). Edge effects on frogs and lizards in tropical forest fragments. Conservation Biology. more on this paper

PRESENTATIONS
“Effects of edges on the amphibians and reptiles of Fila Cruces, Costa Rica.”  Presented at the annual SSAR (herpetology) meeting in Guelph, Ontario (winner of the H. Siebert award for best student oral presentation in Conservation), June 1998; and ESA (ecology) meeting in Baltimore, August 1998.

"The survival of a Costa Rican lizard (Norops polylepis) along a pasture-forest gradient". Presented at the Zoologia and Botanica meeting in Neuchâtel, Switzerland (tied winner for best student oral presentation), February 2001.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Prof. Thomas A. Gavin (chair), Department of Natural Resources, Cornell Univesity
Prof. Kraig K. Adler, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University
Prof. Kelly R. Zamudio, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University
Prof. Paul W. Sherman, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University

SOCIETIES
Member of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB)(1996), Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR)(1996), and the Ecological Society of America (ESA)(1998).

Back to top of C.V.