EEB Faculty Index

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Earth & Marine Sciences A308
Phone: 831.459.5358
Fax: 831.459.5353
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GIACOMO BERNARDI Professor of EEBiology B.A., M.S., Ph.D., University of Paris 1991-1994: Post-Doc at Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University BERNARDI LAB

Center for Ocean Health 100 Shaffer Road University of California Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Phone: 831.459.5124 Fax: 831.459.3383 bernardi@biology.ucsc.edu office hours

Molecular Ecology and Evolution of Fishes

Our laboratory research focuses on understanding speciation mechanisms in Marine Organisms. We have elected to specifically work on fishes as model systems. To approach this vast question, we mainly investigate two different fields of Molecular Evolution. 1) Molecular Phylogenetics: We are interested in understanding phylogenetic relationships between species complexes that correspond either to large groups (Scarids) of fishes, or to species that are in the process of speciation (i.e.Girella, Dascyllus). 2) Population genetics: We are generally interested in studying the relationships between dispersal capabilities and gene flow in fish populations. Our main areas of investigation are the temperate and subtropical Eastern Pacific, the Sea of Cortez, and the Indo-West Pacific.

Selected Publications

Robertson DR, Karg F, de Moura RL, Victor BC, and Bernardi G. 2006. Mechanisms of speciation and faunal enrichment in Atlantic parrotfishes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40: 795-807

Bernardi, G. and J. Lape. 2005. Tempo and mode of speciation in the Baja California disjunct fish species Anisotremus davidsonii. Molecular Ecology 14: 4085-4096.

Bernardi, G. 2005. Phylogeography and demography of sympatric sister species, Embiotoca jacksoni and E. lateralis along the California coast: Historical versus ecological factors. Evolution 59 386-394.

Crow, K.D., Kanamoto, Z., and Bernardi, G. 2004. Molecular phylogeny of the hexagrammid fishes using a multi-locus approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 32: 986-997.

Bernardi, G., Bucciarelli, G., Costagliola, D., Robertson, D.R., and Heiser, J.B. 2003. Evolution of coral reef fish Thalassoma spp. (Labridae): 1.Molecular phylogeny and biogeography. Marine Biology 144:369-375.

Costagliola, D., Robertson, D.R., Guidetti, P., Stefanni, S., Wirtz, P., Heiser, J.B., and Bernardi, G. 2003. Evolution of the coral reef fish Thalassoma spp. (Labridae): 2. Evolution of the eastern Atlantic species. Marine Biology 144:377-383.

Bernardi, G., Holbrook, S.J., Schmitt, R.J., and Crane, N.L. 2003. Genetic evidence for two distanct clades in a French Ploynesian population of the coral reef three-spot damselfish, Dascyllus trimaculatus. Marine Biology 143:485-490.

Bernardi, G., Findley, L., and Rocha-Olivares, A. 2003. Vicariance and dispersal across Baja California in disjunct marine fish populations. Evolution 57:1599-1609.

Fauvelot, C., Bernardi, G., Bonhomme, F., and Planes, S. 2003. Reductions in the mitochondrial DNA diversity of coral reef fish provide evidence of population bottlenecks resulting from Holocene sea-level change Evolution 57:1571-1583.

Bucciarelli, G., Golani, D., and Bernardi, G. 2002. Genetic cryptic species as biological invaders: The case of a Lessepsian fish migrant, the hardyhead silverside Atherinomorus lacunosus. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol 273:143-149.

Bernardi, G., Holbrook, S.J., Schmitt, R.J., Crane, N.L., and DeMartini, E. 2002. Species boundaries, populations, and colour morphs in the coral reef three-spot damselfish (Dascyllus trimaculatus) species-complex. Proc. Roy. Soc. London 269:599-605.

Planes, S., Doherty, P., and Bernardi, G. 2001. Unusual case of extreme genetic divergence in a marine fish, Acanthochromis polyacanthus, within the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea. Evolution 55:2263-2273.

Bernardi G., Holbrook S.J., and Schmitt R.J. 2001. Dispersal of the coral reef three-spot dascyllus, Dascyllus trimaculatus, at three spatial scales. Mar. Biol. 138:457-465.

Huang, D., and Bernardi, G. 2001. Disjunct Sea of Cortez - Pacific Ocean Gillichthys mirabilis populations and the evolutionary origin of their paedomorphic relative, Gillichthys seta. Mar. Biol. 138:421-428.