Talks

Swimming Against the Current - The Unexplored Lives of Global Freshwater Sharks and Rays

Dr. Nathan K. Lujan is the Associate Curator of Fishes at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. Nathan is an internationally recognized expert on ecology and evolution of the Amazon basin, the most biodiverse freshwater ecosystem on Earth. Nathan's research is especially focused on clarifying the taxonomy, ecological diversity, and evolutionary history of the bizarre, highly diverse catfish suborder Loricarioidei, which includes many popular aquarium fishes and the only fishes known to primarily eat wood or parasitize and ingest the blood of larger fishes. Nathan has led over 20 biodiversity inventories of remote river basins of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela, and has discovered and described over 30 new fish species. Nathan’s expeditions are often transdisciplinary and conducted in collaboration with prominent contemporary artists, such as David Brooks and Mark Dion.

João Pedro Fontenelle is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, working with Drs. Patrick James of the Daniels Faculty and Catherine Cullingham of Carleton University. Dr. Fontenelle’s research uses genomic data to investigate how biotic and abiotic factors influence the generation and maintenance of biological and genetic diversity. His research focuses on how complex population dynamics, including outbreaks, affect spatial and temporal genetic variation and their implications on ecological and evolutionary processes.  Fontenelle is a contributing author to the 2024 IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group publication, IUCN Global Status of Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras. 

Julia Meredith Constance is a conservation biologist based in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia, at the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL), Charles Darwin University. Her work focuses on the ecology and conservation of threatened sharks and rays. She recently completed her PhD on the distribution, movement ecology, space use, and natural mortality of the Northern River Shark (Glyphis garricki) and Speartooth Shark (G. glyphis) to inform conservation management. Julia has led research in remote locations of the NT, exploring the occurrence and distributions of euryhaline sharks and rays, collaborating with Traditional Owners to share knowledge on Country. Julia is passionate about conservation of non-marine sharks and rays and improving links between researchers and communities to have real-world impact.