Guanyang

Guanyang Zhang

guanyang@ucr-botanic-gardens-2009_r

Email: gzhan001(at)ucr.edu

My aspiration is to document and understand the diversity of life on the Earth. I have long been fascinated about nature and particularly, the world of insects. Childhood close encounters with ants, mantis, grasshoppers, crickets and etc. were primers to my interest in biology. 

Biological systematics stands out as a distinct subject because it deals with variations and diversity of organisms. Although general rules and patterns are explored too, they all root in the diversity of life. The distinction is better contrasted with other sciences seeking laws and principles such as physics and chemistry. To systematists, diversity is beauty. The great diversity of life brings us amazement, we marvel at it, and yet it also gives us a big time headache – the sheer amount is just overwhelming.   

My Ph.D project will be focusing on a revision of Zelus Fabricius, 1803 (also here ) and a genus-level phylogeny of Harpactorini

Curriculum Vitae 

Education
09/2007-    PhD student in Entomology (advanced to candidacy in Sept 2009). Trainee in the NSF-funded program ‘Partnership in Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET)’ for the proposal entitled Taxonomic Expertise in True Bugs: Systematic and Monographic Research on Assassin Bugs (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) awarded to Dr. Christiane Weirauch. University of California, Riverside.
06/2007    Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences (with Honors). National University of Singapore, Singapore.

Employment & Teaching Experiences
01-03/2011    Undergraduate student research project mentoring. University of California, Riverside.
01-03/2011    Teaching Assistant for Insect Biodiversity. University of California, Riverside.
09-12/2009    Teaching Assistant for Systematic Entomology. University of California, Riverside.
09-12/2008    Teaching Assistant for Natural History of Insects. University of California, Riverside.
09-10/2006    Instructor for Biology Olympiad training course. National Junior College, Singapore.

Grants, Awards & Honors
Total amount of awards exceeds $40,000
09/2011    Robert van den Bosch Scholarship in Biological Control (Travel). $1,500.
08/2011    Marie Stopes Student Travel Award. Willi Hennig Society. $500.
07/2011    Robert van den Bosch Scholarship in Biological Control (for the category systematics of natural enemies). University of California. $15,000.
06/2011    Dissertation Research Grant. University of California, Riverside. $500.
04/2011    Dissertation Year Program Scholarship. University of California. One quarter stipend ($7,200) + tuition fees.
09/2010    Second place in poster presentation. Student Seminar Day. Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside..
02/2010     Smithsonian Graduate Student Fellow. Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Programs. $6,000.
06/2009    Robert van den Bosch Scholarship in Biological Control (for the category systematics of natural enemies). University of California. $5,000.
09/2008    Best PhD Oral Presentation. Student Seminar Day. Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside.
02/2009    Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research. American Philosophical Society. $4,923. (Proposal rejected)
06/2008    California Desert Research Fund for the project Survey of Kissing Bugs within the Inland Empire. Co-awarded to Wei Song Hwang. $2,883.
2008-2011    UC Riverside & Entomology Graduate Student Association Conference Travel Grants. ~$1,500.

Publications
·    Zhang, G., Weirauch, C.  2011.  Matching dimorphic sexes and immature stages with adults: resolving the systematics of the Bekilya group of Malagasy assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Peiratinae). Systematic Entomology 36(1): 115–138.
·    Zhang, G. 2009. Specimens versus sequences. Science 323(5922): 1672. (letter to the editor)
·    Hwang, W. S., Zhang, G., Maslov, D., Weirauch, C. 2009. Infection rates of Trypanosoma cruzi in Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in Southern California. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 83(5): 1020–1022.
·    Meier, R., Zhang, G. DNA barcoding and DNA taxonomy: An assessment based on 4261 COI sequences for 1001 species, in Diptera Diversity: Status, Challenges and Tools edited by Pape, T., Bickel, D., Meier, R. Brill Academic Publishers, 2009.
·    Meier, R., Zhang, G., Ali, F. 2008. The use of mean instead of smallest interspecific distances exaggerates the size of the “barcoding gap” and leads to misidentification. Systematic Biology 57(5): 809–813.
·    Zhang, G., Weirauch, C. Sticky predators: a comparative study of sticky glands in harpactorine assassin bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Acta Zoologica, in press.

Works Submitted or In Progress
·    Weirauch, C., Alvarez, C.,  Zhang, G. Investigating dispersalist potential: observations on the natural enemy assassin bugs Zelus renardii and Zelus tetracanthus (Heteroptera: Reduviidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, in review.
·    Zhang. G., Weirauch, C. Evolution of sticky trap predation in harpactorine assassin bugs (Insecta: Reduviidae), manuscript in preparation and to be submitted to Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
·    Zhang. G. et al. Egg parasitism in an assassin bug, Zelus araneiformis (Insecta: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae), manuscript in preparation and to be submitted to Biology Letters. 
·    Zhang. G., et al. A systematic revision of Zelus Fabricius (Insect: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae), in progress.

Conferences & Workshops
08/2011    The 30th Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society. A sticky tree: molecular phylogeny of Harpactorini (Insecta: Hemiptera: Reduviidae) and the evolution of sticky trap predation (Talk). Sao Jose do Rio Preto, Brazil.
10/2010    The Annual Meeting of The Entomological Society of America. Sticky bugs on the tree: Evolution of sticky trap predation in the assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) (Poster). San Diego, USA.
08/2010    Student participant. Biodiversity of True Bugs (Heteroptera) (field course). Organization for Tropical Studies. Cost Rica.   
07/2010     The Fourth Meeting of the International Heteropterist's Society. Sticky bugs on the tree: towards a molecular phylogeny of the Harpactorini (Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) (Talk). Tianjin, China.
12/2009    The Annual Meeting of The Entomological Society of America. Monographing Zelus Fabricius (Heteroptera: Reduviidae): a 21st century approach (Invited talk). Indianapolis, USA.
02/2009    Heteroptera Synthesis Meeting (sponsored by the Biodiversity Synthesis Center, Field Museum, Chicago & ‘Encyclopedia of Life’). Phylogenetic analytical methods: an overview (Invited talk). Riverside, USA.
11/2008    The Annual Meeting of The Entomological Society of America. Malagasy assassin bugs (Heteroptera: Reduviidae): Association of dimorphic sexes and immature specimens with adults, synonymy of two genera & descriptions of four new species (Talk). Reno, USA.
2008-2010    Entomological Collections Network Annual Meetings (Attendance). USA.

Museum curation &Collection Management Experiences
08/2011    Sorted specimens of Reduviidae at the Museu de Zoologia, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
05-08/2010    Sorted Coleoptera dry specimens at the Entomology Research Museum, UC Riverside.
05/2010    Examined and sorted specimens of Reduviidae at the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
02-04/2010    Examined, sorted and identified specimens of Reduviidae at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC.
01-03/2009    Sorted Heteroptera specimens at the Entomology Research Museum, UC Riverside.
09/2007-    Ongoing effort to sort, identify and mount Heteroptera and Reduviidae specimens from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Madagascar, Mexico, Thailand, and the U.S.; loaned, identified and databased Zelus dry and alcohol specimens (~5,000 specimens).

Field Trips
11/2010    Colombia (3 weeks, trip leader)
09/2010    French Guiana (3 weeks)
08/2010    Costa Rica (2 weeks)
07/2010    Yunnan, China (10 days)
07/2009    Mexico (3 weeks)
09/2007    Arizona, USA (10 days)

Professional Services
07/2011    Assistance with organizing the Second International Workshop of Reduviidae, Riverside, USA.
02/2010    Assistance with organizing the Heteroptera Synthesis Meeting (sponsored by the Biodiversity Synthesis Center, Field Museum, Chicago & ‘Encyclopedia of Life’), Riverside, USA.
2009-2010    Contribution to preparing the grant proposal True Bug Tree of Life for the NSF program ‘Assembling the Tree of Life’ (submitted twice).
10/2009    Designed and created the Reduviidae-PEET project website. [http://reduviidpeet.ucr.edu/index.php] 
02/2009    Assistance with preparing the NSF grant proposal Taxonomic Expertise in True Bugs: Systematic and Monographic Research on Assassin Bugs (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) for the program ‘Partnership in Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET)’.
2007-2011    Pre-reviewer or participation in reviewing manuscripts for Acta Slovenica, Annual Review of Entomology, Insect Systematics and Evolution, Journal of Chemical Ecology, Journal of Economic Entomology, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington and Zootaxa.

Professional Memberships
2010-        International Heteropterist’s Society
2007-        Entomological Society of America
2007-        The Willi Hennig Society

Synergistic Activities & Services
03/2011    Volunteer. The First Joshua Tree National Park Bioblitz.
2009-2010     Computer committee chairperson. Entomology Graduate Student Association.
2007-2011    Outreach educator for various internal and external events (UC Riverside Annual Plant Sale, 2010-11; Discover Day, College of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UC Riverside, 2011; Caryn Elementary School, Rancho Cucamonga, 2011; McKinley Elementary School, Corona, 2010; College of Desert student visit to UC Riverside, 2010; Pomona Insect Fair, 2008).