Lynn Bonomo
MS Student, San Francisco State University
My name is Lynn Bonomo and I am a second year Master’s student in the Gosliner Slug Lab at CAS. I am currently attending San Francisco State University while pursuing a M.S. in Marine Biology. Previously, I attended George Mason University for a BS in Biology with a concentration in Ecology and Conservation and Colorado State University for a BM in Music Performance on bassoon. Drastically different, I know! I enjoy SCUBA diving and snorkeling, music, books, and have adopted all of the lab cohorts pets as my nieces and nephews (looking at Fred, Rufous, Milo, and Soba)!
My current research project is looking at the biodiversity of the Indo-Pacific nudibranch genus, Goniobranchus. I am making a molecular phylogeny based on three genes (H3, CO1, and 16s) for the genus and will be comparing morphology of these nudibranchs to determine how many species there are. I am looking specifically at three subgroups of Goniobranchus: the red-reticulate species complex, the lifters, and the flappers.
For more information on my master’s thesis click here: 50 Shades of Red
In undergraduate work at GMU, I researched the fungal gut pathogen (Nosema) in bumble bees (Bombus) within the lab of Dr. Rebecca Forkner. I looked at populations of bumble bees in Northern Virginia and assessed pollen diversity and infection rates of those populations on a year-long study. I also pursued as many marine classes as I could in order to prepare for graduate school in marine biology since that is where my interests lie. I also spent a semester studying tropical ecology with a week spent in Costa Rica. I had a lot of fun hiking around and seeing all the different organisms there, including kinkajous sleeping in a tree (picture below).
Publications:
Bonomo, LJ and TM Gosliner. 2020. Adding stars to the Chromodoris (Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae) galaxy with the description of four new species. Zootaxa, 4819(3): 401-435.
Contact Info: LBonomo@calacademy.org
