Jessica Fenker

Atlas of Living Australia
CSIRO
Associated Researcher
Australian National University

Canberra, ACT

Contact me for

  • Mentoring
  • Sitting on boards or committees
  • Providing an expert opinion
  • Outreach activities
  • Conference presenting
  • Opportunities to collaborate

Expertise

Biography

I am a Research Fellow at Museums Victoria, working on Jane Melville's lab on how Quaternary changes affected past and recent reptile communities, using rich fossil data. I am also currently associated with the Australian National University (ANU), collaborating with the Moritz and Cardillo labs.

Previously, I worked as a data analyst, part of the  Science & Decision Support team at the Atlas of Living Australia (CSIRO), a collaborative, digital, open infrastructure that pulls together Australian biodiversity data from multiple sources, making it accessible and reusable. I work in partnership with EcoCommons, a platform for digital modelling and analysis needs on ecological and environmental research. I also  collaborated with the Australian National Wildlife Collection (ANWC - CSIRO), as a Relocation Technician.

I completed a postdoctoral position at the University of Michigan, at Lacey Knowles’ lab, interested in the species delimitation process, linking micro and macro evolution. I did my Ph.D. at ANU, at Craig Moritz’s lab. My dissertation concerned macroecological questions and landscape genomics related to lizards in savannas environments, mostly in Australia and Brazil. In my Master’s (University of Brasilia, Brazil), I worked with phylogenetic diversity and habitat loss in Neotropical pitvipers. I also assisted in the preparation of the redlist of lizards and amphisbaenians of Brazil.

I am a proud member of two Brazilian women in STEM initiatives, H2H (Herpetologia segundo herpetólogas) and Rede Kunhã Asé, aiming to promote equity and value the role of Women in Science.

Any questions? Do you want to chat? Feel free to contact me by email (jehfenker@gmail.com) and follow my updates on twitter (@jehzim).

Jessica identifies as culturally and linguistically diverse.

Featured

Academic paper

2021

Predictors of Phylogeographic Structure among co-distributed taxa across the complex Australian Monsoonal Tropics
Academic paper

2021

Digest: Dispersal reduction drives rapid diversification in alpine grasshoppers
Academic paper

2021

Gender inequality and not female mentors hinder female scientists career outcomes
Academic paper

2021

A return-on-investment approach for prioritization of rigorous taxonomic research needed to inform responses to the biodiversity crisis
Academic paper

2021

An integrative approach to the phylogeography, historical demography and systematics of the world’s smallest pythons (Pythonidae, Antaresia).
Book

2021

Herpetologia Brasileira Contemporênea - Os determinantes da diversidade biológica da herpetofauna Neotropical
Academic paper

2020

When misinterpretation leads to sexism: perspectives on gender disparity in Brazilian Herpetology.
Academic paper

2020

Diet of terrestrial anurans in an ephemeral and simplified habitat during the dry season in the Brazilian Cerrado.
Academic paper

2020

Evolutionary history of Neotropical savannas geographically concentrates species, phylogenetic and functional diversity of lizards.
Academic paper

2020

Convergence and crypsis: Integrative taxonomic revision of the Gehyra australis group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from northern Australia.
Academic paper

2019

A new species of rock-dwelling gecko (Gekkonidae: Gehyra) from the Mt Surprise region of northern Queensland, Australia.
Academic paper

2018

Extinction risks forced by climatic change and intraspecific variation in the thermal physiology of a tropical lizard.
Academic paper

2016

In the depths of obscurity: knowledge gaps and extinction risk of Brazilian worm lizards (Squamata, Amphisbaenidae).
Academic paper

2015

Cryptic lineages and diversification of an endemic anole lizard (Squamata, Dactyloidae) of the Cerrado hotspot.
Academic paper

2014

Phylogenetic diversity, habitat loss and conservation in South American pitvipers (Crotalinae: Bothrops and Bothrocophias)

2019

ACT Bush Blitz report- Reptile group (2019)
Media article

2019

Empowering Latina scientists
Book

2018

Redbook of the endangered Brazilian fauna – volume IV- Reptiles
Book

2016

State of the Wet Tropics Report 2015-2016- Ancient, Endemic, Rare and Threatened Vertebrates of the Wet Tropics
Media article

2020

ECR feature: Jéssica Fenker (Journal of Biogegraphy)
Grant

2020

ANCLAS Research Grant, Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies ($4000 AUD) - The Australian National University

Grant

2019

Australian Biological Resources Study, International Student Travel Grant ($1500 AUD) - Department of the Environment and Energy

Grant

2019

Vice Chancellor’s Higher Degree Research Travel Grant ($1500 AUD) - The Australian National University

Grant

2018

Graduate Travel Award ($500 USD) - Society for the Study of Evolution

2015

International Student PhD Research Fellowship ($184,500 AUD) - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Grant

2010

Master’s Student Fellowship ($28,800 BRL) - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Website

Herpetologia segundo as Herpetólogas- Brazilian organisation of Women in Science
Website

Rede Kunhã Asé - Brazilian organisation of Women in Science
Academic paper

2022

Community voices: sowing, germinating, flourishing as strategies to support inclusion in STEM