Current Research

My current research is focused on the assessment of conservation status in mammals and the analysis and monitoring of large-scale patterns and trends in biodiversity, primarily in the tropics. One significant project is the TEAM Initiative, based at the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International. This project is implementing standardized protocols for the monitoring of soil, climate, and a variety of vegetation, invertebrate and vertebrate indicators at field stations in the tropics. Another area of research is the Global Mammal Assessment, done in collaboration with the IUCN. At Texas A&M I am collaborating with Drs. Paulo Lima-Filho and Jay Walton of the Department of Mathematics on applications of mathematics to questions in ecology and conservation. Current graduate student research includes mammalian community patterns along an altitudinal gradient in Mexico, morphological variation in Amazonian marmosets, spatial and temporal patterns of space and resource use of macaws in Peru, and cultural values and conservation in the Iwokrama Forest region of Guyana.

Selected Publications

• Kendall, R.J., T.E. Lacher, Jr., G.P. Cobb, and S.B. Cox (eds). In Press. Wildlife Toxicology: Emerging Contaminant and Biodiversity Issues. Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton.
• Lacher, T.E., Jr., J. Bickham, C. Gascon, R. Green, R.D. Moore, and M. Mora. In press. Impacts of contaminants and pesticides on biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function. In: Wildlife Toxicology: Emerging Contaminant and Biodiversity Issues. R.J. Kendall, T.E. Lacher, Jr., G.P. Cobb, and S.B. Cox (eds). Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton.
• Castro-Arellano, I. and T.E. Lacher, Jr. 2009. Segregation by temporal niche in high and low richness rodent assemblages of subtropical Mexico. Journal of Tropical Ecology – in press.
• Aguiar, J.M. and T.E. Lacher, Jr. 2009. Cranial morphology of the dwarf marmoset Callibella in the context of callitrichid variability. In: The Smallest Anthropoids: The Marmoset/Callimico Radiation, Susan M. Ford, Leila Porter, Lesa C. Davis, (eds.) American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
• Schipper, J. J. Chanson, F. Chiozza, N. Cox, M. Hoffmann, V. Katariya, J. Lamoreux, A. Rodrigues, S.N. Stuart, H.J. Temple, J. Baillie, L. Boitani, T.E. Lacher, Jr., et al.. 2008. The status of the world’s land and marine mammals: diversity, threat, and knowledge. Science 322:225-230.
• Weiser, M.D., B.J. Enquist, B. Boyle, T. Killeen, P. Jorgensen, G. Fonseca, M. Jennings, A.J. Kerkoff, T.E. Lacher, Jr., A. Monteaqudo, M.P. Nuñez-Vargas, O.L. Phillips, N.G. Swenson, and R. Vasquez. 2007. Latitudinal patterns of range size and species richness of New World woody plants. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16:679-688.
• Fonseca, G.A.B., C. Gascon, M.K. Steininger, T. Brooks, R.A. Mittermeier and T.E. Lacher. Jr. 2002. A global fragmentation experiment underway. Science 295: 1835.