Curator of Mammals at the National Museum of Natural History
Dr. Hawkins grew up in the midwest and initially considered a carrer as a veterinarian. As an undergraduate zoology major she began participating in undergraduate research on the genetics of ringneck snakes and was hooked. Following her Bachelor's degree, she continuted working on ringneck snakes for a Master's degree. She always wanted to work with mammals, and pursued mammalogy research during her PhD through the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Center for Conservation Genomics and the National Museum of Natural History. As a doctoral student, Missy led two field expeditions to Malaysian Borneo and trapped small mammals along the elevational gradient of Mount Kinabalu. Following her doctoral degree she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha Nebraska studying the lemurs of Madagascar.
Dr. Hawkins is primarily a conservation geneticist with a focus on mammalian evolution and systematics. She is an expert in next-generation sequencing methods, and has published several methodological papers on extracting DNA from museum specimens for genome-scale analyses. During her dissertation she spent nearly six months sampling small mammals along elevational gradients in Sabah, Borneo to evaluate patterns of occurrence, diversity, and phylogenetic relationships among many understudied rodent and treeshrew species. In addition to phylogenomics, she is interested in both applied conservation projects involving endangered species (including lemurs, small carnivores and rodents) as well as habitat connectivity and landscape genomics.
Find more information about Dr. Hawkins' research program here: http://melissa-hawkins.weebly.com
Dr. Hawkins primarily conducts field research on small mammals but is interested in most mammals, as well as biogeography and systematics of diverse animal groups.
Publications:
18. M.T.R. Hawkins, R. R. Culligan, R.B. Dikow, C. L. Frasier, R. Lei, E. E. Louis Jr. 2018. Genome resources and demographic history of the greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus) across the extant distribution. BMC Genomics.19:445 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-018-4841-4
17. D.R. Randimbiharinirina, B.M. Raharivololona, M.T.R. Hawkins, C.L. Frasier, R.R. Culligan, T.M. Sefczek, R. Randriamampionona, E.E. Louis Jr. 2018. Behavior and Ecology of male aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) in the Kianjavato Classified Forest, southeastern Madagascar. Folia Primatologica.89:123-137.
16. M. Camacho-Sanchez, I. Quintanilla, M.T.R. Hawkins, J.E. Maldonado, J.A. Leonard. 2018. Population genetics of an endemic montane rat, Rattus baluensis, and its implications on tropical mountains as interglacial refugia. Diversity and Distributions. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12761
15. E.E. Gutiérrez, K.M. Helgen, M.M. McDonough, F. Bauer, M.T.R. Hawkins, L.A. Escobedo-Morales, B.D. Patterson, J.E. Maldonado. 2017. A gene-tree test of the traditional, morphology-based taxonomy of the American deer: the importance of voucher specimens, geographic data, and dense sampling. ZooKeys.697: 87-131.
14. R.L. Jacobs, T.S. MacFie, A.N. Spriggs, A.L. Baden, T.L. Morelli, M.T. Irwin, R.R. Lawler, J. Pastorini, M. Mayor, R. Lei, R. Culligan, M.T.R. Hawkins, P.M. Kappeler, P.C. Wright,
E.E. Louis Jr., N.I. Mundy, B.J. Bradley. 2017 Novel and highly polymorphic colour vision in large-bodied, diurnal lemurs. Biology Letters. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0050
13. M.G. Campana, L.D. Parker, M.T.R. Hawkins, H.S. Young, K.M. Helgen, M. S. Gunther, R. Woodroffe, J.E. Maldonado, R.C. Fleischer. Genome sequence, population history, and pelage genetics of the endangered African wild dog (Lycaon pictus). BMC Genomics. 17:1013 http://doi: 10.1186/s12864-016-3368-9.
12. R. Lei, C.L. Frasier, M.T.R. Hawkins, S. Engberg, M.L. Wood, C. A. Bailey, A.T. McLain, C.P. Groves, S.E. Johnson, G.H. Perry, S.T. Nash, R.A. Mittermeier, E.E. Louis. Whole mitogenome analysis of the sportive lemurs (genus Lepilemur) with improved divergence date estimates. Accepted September 2016 to Journal of Heredity.
11. Bailey C.A., McLain A.T., Paquette S.R., McGuire S.M., Shore G.D., Lei R., Randriamanana J.C., Rabekinaja J.D., Rakotoarisoa G., Razafindrakoto A., Brenneman R.A., M.T.R. Hawkins, Louis E.E. 2016. Evaluating the Genetic Diversity of Three Endangered Lemur Species (Genus: Propithecus) from Northern Madagascar. Journal of Primatology 5:1, 1-13.
10. M.T.R. Hawkins, J.A. Leonard, K.M. Helgen, M.M. McDonough, L.L. Rockwood, & J.E. Maldonado. 2016. Evolutionary history of endemic Sulawesi squirrels constructed from UCEs and mitogenomes sequenced from museum specimens. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 16: 1–16. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0650-z
9. M.G. Campana*$, M.T.R. Hawkins*, L. Henson, K. Stewardson, H.S. Young, L.R. Card, J. Lock, J. Brinkerhoff, H.D. Gaff, K.M. Helgen, J.E. Maldonado, W.J. McShea, R.C. Fleischer. 2016. Simultaneous identification of parasite, blood meal and pathogen DNA via array capture.Molecular Ecology Resources doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.12524
* denotes co-first authors.
8. M.T.R.Hawkins, K.M. Helgen, J.E. Maldonado, L.L. Rockwood, M.T.N. Tsuchiya, J.A. Leonard. 2016. Phylogeny, biogeography and systematic revision of plain long-nosed squirrels (genus Dremomys, Nannosciurinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 94 752-764 doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.023
7. Y. Kimura, M.T.R. Hawkins, M.M. McDonough, L.L. Jacobs, L.J. Flynn. 2015. Corrected placement of Mus-Rattus fossil calibration forces precision in the molecular tree of rodents. Scientific Reports 5, Article number: 14444 doi:10.1038/srep14444.
6. M.T.R. Hawkins$, Courtney A. Hofman, Taylor Callicrate, Molly M. McDonough, Mirian T.N. Tsuchiya, Eliécer E. Gutiérrez, Kristofer M. Helgen, Jesus E. Maldonado. 2016. In-Solution Hybridization for Mammalian Mitogenome enrichment: Pros, Cons, and Challenges Associated with Multiplexing Degraded DNA. Molecular Ecology Resources. Special Issue: Sequence Capture. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.12448 $Cover image
5. E.E. Gutiérrez, J.E. Maldonado, A. Radosavljevic, J. Molinari, B.D. Patterson, J.M. Martínez-C., A.R. Rutter, M.T. R. Hawkins, F.J. Garcia, K.M. Helgen. 2015. The Taxonomic Status of Mazama bricenii and the Significance of the Táchira Depression for Mammalian Endemism in the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuela. PLoS One 10(6): e0129113. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0129113
4. C. Hofman, T.C. Rick, M.T.R. Hawkins, W. C. Funk, K. Ralls, C. Boser, P.W. Collins, T. Coonan, J. King, S. Morrison, S.D. Newsome, T.S. Sillett, R. Fleischer, J. Maldonado. 2015 Mitochondrial genomes reveal rapid evolution of dwarf California Channel Islands foxes (Urocyon littoralis). PLoS One 10(2): e0118240. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118240
3. J. A. Leonard , R.J. den Tex, M. T. R. Hawkins, V. Muñoz-Fuentes, R. Thorington and J. E. Maldonado. 2015 Phylogeography of vertebrates on the Sunda Shelf: a multi-species comparison. Journal of Biogeography. 42, 871–879 doi:10.1111/jbi.12465
*Please note name changed in 2013 from M.T. Roberts to M.T.R. Hawkins
2. Ahlering, M.A., Eggert, L.S., Western D., Estes, A., Munishi, L., Fleischer, R., Roberts, M., and Maldonado, J.E. 2012. Identifying source populations and genetic structure for savannah elephants in human-dominated landscapes and protected areas in the Kenya-Tanzania borderlands. PLoS One 7(12): e52288. doi.10.1371.journal.pone.0052288
1. Ahlering, M. A., Hailer, F., Roberts, M. T., and Foley, C. 2011. A simple and accurate method to sex savanna, forest and Asian elephants using non-invasive sampling techniques. Molecular Ecology Resources, 11: 831-834.
Dr. Hawkins currently teaches ZOOL 356 (Mammalogy) in the fall, and BIOL 307 (Evolution) in the spring. In the future she will also teach ZOOL 560, Advanced Mammalogy and potentially BIOL 440 focused on next generation sequencing.
