Sam Hyde Roberts
Post Doctoral Researcher
Biology Department – 2022
Sam has dedicated the past decade to research and conservation in Madagascar and spent the previous eight years in the southeast (Anosy region). Despite varied research and taxonomic interests (amphibians, bats, birds, lemurs and palms), Sam has been drawn in to the dark and difficult world of mouse lemur research in recent times.
After completing his PhD at Oxford Brookes, detailing the behavioural ecology, social organisation and biogeography of Microcebus tanosi, Sam’s experience studying these small nocturnal primates in the wild has led him to Duke where he is now an NSF postdoc. His current work aims to better understand the genetic, ecological and morphological barriers that develop between diverged lineages and form the basis of reproductive isolation, thus shaping evolutionary trajectories. Using sympatric mouse lemur species in Andohahela National Park as a model system, Sam aims to determine how and why these closely related species maintain lineage distinctiveness. Strap yourselves in!
As a counterpoint to the rest of the Yoder Lab, he is a confirmed cat fanatic and seemingly cannot pass a cat anywhere in the world without attempting to communicate…
130 Science Drive
Box 90338
Durham, NC 27708