Justin D. Yeakel
CURRICULUM VITAE
Department of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive, Burnaby, B.C. Canada V5A 1S6
Ph. +1-831-706-4215 • jdyeakel@gmail.com
http://jdyeakel.wordpress.com
CURRENT POSITION
Postdoctoral Fellow: Simon Fraser University, British Columbia; July 2012 - present
Postdoctoral Advisor: Jonathan W. Moore (Dept. of Biological Sciences)
Research: A dynamic systems approach towards understanding the role of portfolio
effects in a species-rich freshwater environment
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Dept. Ecology and Evol. Biology; University of California, Santa Cruz; June 2012
Advisor Troika:
James A. Estes
(Dept. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)
Paul L. Koch
(Dept. Earth and Planetary Sciences)
Marc Mangel
(Dept. Applied Mathematics and Statistics)
Thesis: The structure of mammalian food-webs: Interpreting, predicting, and informing estimates
of species interactions in paleontological and modern communities
B.Sci. Kent State University; 1999 - 2004
Major: Biological Anthropology, summa cum laude
Minor: Biology
FELLOWSHIPS AND RESEARCH GRANTS
• Regents Fellowship (UCSC): Awarded 2011
• UCSC Dissertation-Year Fellowship: Runner-Up; Spring, 2011
• Deans Super Fellowship (UCSC): Awarded 2010
• Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) Grant; Winter 2008 $5,000
• Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Travel Award; Fall 2007
• 2007 UCSC Graduate Research Symposium: Honorable Mention
• Committee on Research Grant- SRG (ghostwriter w/ PL Koch) (Spring 2007) $11,960
• Committee on Research Grant- FRG (ghostwriter w/ NJ Dominy) (Spring 2007) $2,500
• Friends of Long Marine Lab Research Grant (Fall 2006) $800
• Department of Anthropology Internal Research Grant (Fall 2006) $800
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship: Awarded 2006
INTERNSHIPS AND WORKSHOPS
ESPCA Sao Paulo School on Ecological Networks, Sao Paulo, Brazil. September 16-23 2011
Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPIPKS), Dresden Germany
Host: Dr. Thilo Gross and the Dynamics of Biological Networks lab, August 2010.
PAPERS PUBLISHED OR AVAILABLE AS PREPRINT
*contributed equally §Accepted or In Press †Faculty1000 RIn Review
11. Yeakel JD, Dominy NJ, Koch PL, Mangel M. Stable isotopes, functional morphology, and
human evolution: a model of consilience. ArXiv Preprint: http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.4933
10. Yeakel JD, Guimarães Jr. PR, Bocherens H, Koch PL. The impact of climate change on the
structure of Pleistocene mammoth steppe food webs. ArXiv Preprint: http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.4911
9. Yeakel JD, Guimarães Jr. PR, Novak M, Fox-Dobbs K, Koch PL. Probabilistic patterns of
interaction: the effects of link strength variability on food-web structure. Journal of the Royal
Society Interface. 9, 3219-3228.
8. RNewsome SD, Tinker TM, Yeakel JD, Bentall G, Ralls K, Oftedal OT, Kennett DJ, Fogel ML,
Estes JA. Effects of consumer density on individual dietary specialization: An isotopic
comparison among sea otter populations in california. Journal of Animal Ecology. In review.
7. §Moritz GL, Fourie N, Yeakel JD, Phillips-Conroy JE, Jolly CJ, Koch PL, Dominy NJ.
Baboons, water, and the ecology of oxygen stable isotopes in an arid hybrid zone. Physiological
and Biochemical Zoology. In press.
6. *Newsome SD, *Yeakel JD, Wheatley PV, Tinker MT. (2012) Tools for quantifying isotopic
niche space and dietary variation at the individual and population level. J. Mammalogy. 93,
329-341.
5. Yeakel JD, Novak M, Guimarães Jr. PR, Dominy NJ, Koch PL, Ward EJ, Moore JW, Semmens
BX. (2011) Merging resource availability with isotope mixing models: the role of neutral
interaction assumptions. PloS One. 6, e22015.
4. †Yeakel JD, Stiefs D, Novak M, Gross T (2011). Generalized modeling of ecological population
dynamics. Theoretical Ecology. 4, 179-194.
3. Yeakel JD, Patterson BD, Fox-Dobbs K, Okumura M, Cerling TE, Moore JW, Koch, P, Dominy
NJ (2009). Cooperation and individuality among man-eating lions. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 106, 19040–19043.
2. Dominy NJ, Vogel ER, Yeakel JD, van Woerden JT, Lucas PW, van Schaik CP (2008).
Mechanical properties of plant underground storage organs and implications for dietary models
of early hominins. Evolutionary Biology. 35, 159-175.
1. Yeakel JD, Bennett N, Koch PL, Dominy NJ (2007). The isotopic ecology of African mole rats
informs hypotheses on the evolution of human diet. Proceedings Of The Royal Society Of
London Series B-Biological Sciences. 274(1619), 1723-1730.
PAPERS IN PREPARATION
12. *Yeakel JD, *Pires M, Gross T, Guimarães Jr. PR, Koch PL. Unraveling an ecological
network: Reconstructing the decline of ancient Egyptian food webs. Written for: Nature.
13. Yeakel JD, Mangel M. Estimating the degree of compensation from fluctuations in fish
biomass. Written for: PLoS Computational Biology.
REFEREED JOURNALS
• Biological Conservation
• Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
• IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics
• Oecologia
• Oikos
• Canadian Journal of Zoology
• PloS One
• Journal of Archaeological Science
INVITED TALKS
• University of Wyoming. Unraveling an ecological network: Reconstructing the decline of
ancient Egyptian food webs. September, 2012
• Simon Fraser University. The structure of Mammoth-Steppe food-webs: ecological coherence
and the dietary habits of Neanderthals. November, 2011.
• Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden Germany. The structure of
modern and Pleistocene predator-prey networks. August, 2010.
• University of California, Berkeley. The adaptive response of grazing monkeys to aridification in
Africa. October, 2007.
• Kent State University. Paleo-dietary ecology: Did hominins utilize underground storage organs?
November, 2006.
PRESENTATIONS
• Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting. August 2012 (Talk)
• Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting. August 2011 (Talk)
• American Fisheries Society. September 2011 (Talk)
• Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting. August 2011 (Talk)
• 2010 Species Interaction Workshop; Santa Cruz, CA. December 2010 (Talk)
• UCSC Graduate Research Symposium. May 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 (Talk)
• 2009 Species Interaction Workshop; Stanford CA. December 2009 (Talk)
• Carnivore Conference; Defenders of Wildlife. November 2009 (Talk)
• Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting. August 2009 (Talk)
• 26th Annual Physiological Ecology Meeting. June 2008 (Talk)
• American Association of Physical Anthropologists. April 2008 (Poster)
• Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology. Jan. 2008 (Talk)
• Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Oct. 2007 (Talk)
• American Association of Physical Anthropologists. March 2007 (Talk)
• UCSC Plant Sciences Symposium. Feb. 2007, 2009 (Talk)
• Applications of Stable Isotope Techniques to Ecological Studies. August 2006 (Poster)
• Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Oct. 2005 (Talk)
GUEST LECTURES
• UCSC: Stable Isotopes in Ecology: Mixing models. Winter, 2010; Spring 2012
• UCSC: History of Life: Terrestrial Ecosystems of the Permian: 299-251 Ma. Winter, 2011
• UCSC: Conservation Biology: Conservation Ecology and Stable Isotopes. Winter, 2011
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Lecturer
• The Natural History of Dinosaurs; Dept. Earth and Planetary Sciences, UCSC (2010, 2012)
✤ Student Reviews (2012):
Course overall as a learning experience: Excellent (51%); Very Good (31%)
Instructor’s overall effectiveness as a teacher: Excellent (44%); Very Good (38%)
Enthusiasm for subject and for teaching: Excellent (86%); Very Good (12%)
Clarity and Understandability: Excellent (42%); Very Good (35%)
✤ Student Reviews (2010):
Course overall as a learning experience: Excellent (71%); Very Good (27%)
Instructor’s overall effectiveness as a teacher: Excellent (82%); Very Good (15%)
Enthusiasm for subject and for teaching: Excellent (94%); Very Good (5%)
Clarity and Understandability: Excellent (63%); Very Good (28%)
Teaching Assistant
• Conservation Biology; Dept. Environmental Sciences, UCSC (2011)
• Behavioral Ecology; Dept. Ecology and Evol. Biology, UCSC (2010)
• Ecology; Dept. Ecology and Evol. Biology, UCSC (2010, 2011)
• Introduction to Biology; Dept. Ecology and Evol. Biology, UCSC (2009)
• Human Functional Anatomy; Dept. Anthropology (2007)
• Human Ecology; Dept. Anthropology (2006)
• Natural History of Dinosaurs; Dept. Earth and Planetary Sciences, UCSC (2006)
• Ecology and Evolution; Dept. Ecology and Evol. Biology, UCSC (2005)
• Animal and Plant Physiology; Dept. Ecology and Evol. Biology, UCSC (2005)
Teaching Education/Training
• LongAcre Expeditions (Trip Leader) 2003-2004
• National Outdoor Leadership School Graduate: Alaska, 2001
OTHER RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Laboratory Technician / Research Assistant, UCSC (Sept. 2004-2006)
• Isotope laboratory work: Isotopic study of modern intertidal mussels
• Isotope laboratory work: Seed dispersal via Strontium isotope ratios
• Isotope laboratory work: Dietary analysis of modern and paleontological mole-rats in southern
Africa
• Isotope laboratory work: Paleodietary analysis of Theropithecus in Pliocene, North Africa
• Fieldwork in the intertidal of Santa Cruz, CA: Isotopic study of modern intertidal mussels
• Fieldwork in South Africa/Botswana: Isotopic analysis of modern and paleontological mole-rats
in southern Africa
• Fieldwork in Baja, New Mexico: The impact of fisheries by-catch on Isla Magdalena coyote
populations
• Fieldwork in Congo/Cameroon/Uganda, Africa: LIDAR analysis of forest canopy cover in
rainforests occupied by pygmy hunter-gatherer populations
• Fieldwork in Tanzania, Africa: Mechanical analysis of foods consumed by Hadza huntergatherers near Lake Eyasi
PRESS
Print
• Nature News
✤ (2009) “Lions’ taste for human flesh dissected”
✤ (2007) “Human ancestors went underground for dinner”
• Science News (2009) “A body count for two man-eating lions”
• Chicago Sun Times
• Chicago Tribune
• Science Daily
• Telegraph (UK)
• San Francisco Chronicle (2007) “UC student roots out clues to pre-human species’ diets”
• Archaeology Magazine
• Christian Science Monitor
Radio
• National Public Radio: All Things Considered
• CBC Radio: As It Happens
• Santa Cruz KZSC
PUBLIC OUTREACH
Co-founder of the podcast: Science... Sort of
Description: Science... Sort of is a podcast that discusses “things that are science, things that are
sort of science, and things that wish they were science”. The podcast is designed to introduce and
discuss science-based topics in a way that is accessible to both scientists and non-scientists, and
has a weekly audience of ca. 2000-5000 listeners.