Dr. Kenneth Kozak
E-mail:kozak@life.bio.sunysb.edu
Phone: lab: 631-632-1886
Ken is a NSF postdoctoral fellow in Bioinformatics. He is combining data on the evolutionary history, community structure, and climatic tolerances of eastern North American woodland salamanders to understand how montane-endemic species originate and their geographic ranges are maintained.
Before coming to Stony Brook in June of 2005, Ken was a Ph.D. student at Washington University. His dissertation research focused on the geography of speciation, ecomorphological evolution, and community assembly in eastern North American plethodontid salamanders.
Major Awards
National Science
Foundation, Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics
(2005)
National Science Foundation, Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (2002)
American Society
of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Gaige Award (2002)
Highlands Biological
Station, Bruce Scholarship in Herpetology (2002)
Highlands Biological
Station, Charles Ash Scholarship in Statistics and Experimental Design
(2002)
American Museum of
Natural History, Theodore Roosevelt Award (1998)
Publications
Kozak, K. H., and J. J. Wiens. 2006. Does niche conservatism promote speciation: a case study in North American salamanders. Evolution 60:2604-2621. PDF
Kozak, K.H., D. W. Weisrock, and A. Larson. 2006. Rapid lineage accumulation in a non-adaptive radiation: phylogenetic analysis of diversification rates in eastern North American woodland salamanders (Plethodontidae: Plethodon). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 273:539-546. PDF
Kozak, K. H., R. A. Blaine, and A. Larson. 2006. Gene lineages and eastern North American paleodrainage basins: phylogeography and speciation in salamanders of the Eurycea bislineata species complex. Molecular Ecology 15:191-207. PDF
Kozak, K. H., A. Larson, R. Bonett, and L. J. Harmon. 2005. Phylogenetic analysis of ecomorphological divergence, community structure, and diversification rates in dusky salamanders (Plethodontidae: Desmognathus) Evolution 59:2000-2016. PDF
Kozak, K. H., and M. J. Lannoo. 2005. Eurycea aquatica. Pp. 734-735. In M.J Lannoo (Ed.), Declining Amphibians: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Weisrock, D. W., K. H. Kozak, and A. Larson. 2005. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial gene flow and introgression in the salamander, Plethodon shermani. Molecular Ecology 14:1457-1472. PDF
Kozak. K. H. 2003. Sexual isolation and courtship behavior in salamanders of the Eurycea bislineata species complex, with comments on the evolution of the mental gland and pheromone delivery behavior in the Plethodontidae. Southeastern Naturalist 2:281-292. PDF
Larson, A., D. W. Weisrock, and K. H. Kozak. 2003. Phylogenetic systematics of salamanders (Amphibia: Urodela), a review. Pp. 31-108. In D.M. Sever (Ed.), Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Urodela. Science Publishers, Inc., Enfield, New Hampshire.
Kozak, K. H., and R. R. Montanucci. 2001. Genetic variation across a contact zone between montane and lowland forms of the Two-lined salamander (Eurycea bislineata) species complex: a test of species limits. Copeia 2001:25-34. PDF
Parham, J. F., W.
B. Simison, K. H. Kozak, C. R. Feldman, and H. Shi. 2001. New Chinese
turtles: endangered or invalid? A reassessment of two species using mitochondrial
DNA, allozyme electrophoresis and known locality specimens. Animal
Conservation 4:357-367. PDF
.