Alexa Bely
Positions
- current
- Professor - University of Maryland, College Park - Department of Biology (joined 2002 as Assistant Professor)
- Graduate Program faculty - Biological Sciences Program in Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, Systematics (BEES)
- Director, Biology Honors Program
- Postdoctoral Fellow - 1999-2002 - University of California, Berkeley - Molecular and Cell Biology, lab of David Weisblat
- Ph.D. - 1999 - State University of New York, Stony Brook - Ecology & Evolution, lab of Greg Wray
- B.S. - 1991 - University of Maryland, College Park - General Biology
Research
- Integrative Biology of Regeneration and Asexual Reproduction
We study how and why regeneration, asexual reproduction, and other post-embryonic developmental processes have evolved and diversified across animals. We focus on several groups of invertebrates, especially annelids (segmented worms), and use a variety of approaches, including developmental, physiological, organismal, molecular, and phylogenetic studies. - Biology of Freshwater Annelids
Annelids (segmented worms) are abundant in freshwaters throughout the world and play important ecological roles in freshwater communities. We study the evolution, ecology, physiology, and life histories of freshwater annelids. Our work has a particular emphasis on naidids - tiny, delicate, and beautiful annelids that reproduce primarily asexually and are particularly common among freshwater meiofauna.
Teaching
- Animal Diversity and Evolution (BSCI 400) This course focuses on deep-level diversity of animals and their evolutionary relationships, unique and repeated transitions in the course of animal evolution, and the evolutionary mechanisms that have shaped and continue to shape animal diversity. The course takes an integrative organismal approach to understanding animal evolution, considering morphology, physiology, life history, and ecology. It also explores how patterns of animal diversity have changed through time and the processes affecting animal diversity in our changing world. (Typically taught Fall semesters)
- Invertebrate Biology (BSCI 439A) Invertebrate animals - all animals except those with a backbone - exhibit a remarkable diversity of adaptations for surviving and reproducing. This course explores the diverse ways that invertebrate animals function across a wide spectrum of body sizes, body forms, and environments, with primary emphasis on invertebrates living in marine and freshwater habitats. Throughout the course, we focus on both common modes and unusual adaptations for survival and reproduction, including those relating to feeding, locomotion, respiration, water and salt balance, defense, sensory input, behavior, reproductive mode, body maintenance and repair, lifespan, and life history. We often focus on primary data to understand how functional biology information is learned. We consider how historical contingency and natural selection shape organismal function and the integration of its components, and consider the reasons for the broad patterns seen in the functional biology of aquatic invertebrates. We also discuss how anthropogenic changes negatively impact the functioning of invertebrate animals and approaches to mitigate these impacts. (Typically taught Spring semesters)
- Biology Honors Program, Director
- Biology Honors Seminar (BSCI 398H)
- Body Boundaries: The science behind asexual reproduction, coloniality, and immortality (HNUH 268Z) - University Honors - Seminar Course
- Renewing the Body: The science behind regeneration and immortality (HONR 258A) - University Honors - Seminar Course
- Principles of Ecology and Evolution (BSCI 160)