Mercer R Brugler

Dr. Mercer R. Brugler earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology at the University of Miami, Florida (1997-2001), a Master of Science in Marine Biology at the College of Charleston’s Grice Marine Laboratory (South Carolina, 2001-2004), and a Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (2004-2011). He was a Gerstner Scholar and Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History's Institute for Comparative Genomics (2011-2014). Dr. Brugler's first tenure-track job was in Brooklyn NY at NYC College of Technology (CUNY). He is currently the Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences at the University of South Carolina Beaufort and also oversees their undergraduate Marine Biology Program. Dr. Brugler is a Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History (New York City) and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (Washington DC). Dr. Brugler continues to teach online courses for NYU-SPS DAUS (Darwin to DNA: An Overview of Evolution) and Columbia University (The Life Aquatic).

Publications

• A handbook on mentoring students in undergraduate research: proven strategies for success (ISBN-10: 0-692-78964-2; ISBN-13: 978-0-692-78964-3; digital or hard copy freely available upon request) By CityTech's Undergraduate Research Committee (Oct 26 2016)
• A global eDNA comparison of freshwater bacterioplankton assemblages focusing on large-river floodplain lakes of Brazil By Microbial Ecology (Sep 09 2016)
• The mitogenome of the bed bug Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) By Mitochondrial DNA Part B: Resources (Jun 20 2016)
• Genome assembly, annotation, & geospatial phylogenomics of the bedbug (Cimex lectularius). By Nature Communications (Jan 13 2016)
• Comparative transcriptomic analyses of three species of Placobdella (Rhynchodbdellida: Glossiphoniidae) confirms a single origin of blood feeding in leeches. By Journal of Parasitology (Oct 26 2015)
• Multiplexed pyrosequencing of nine sea anemone (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Actiniaria) mitochondrial genomes. By Mitochondrial DNA (Jun 24 2015)
• A RNA-seq approach to identify putative toxins from acrorhagi in aggressive and non-aggressive Anthopleura elegantissima polyps. By BMC Genomics (Mar 21 2015)
• Morphological and molecular variability of the sea anemone Phymanthus crucifer (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Actiniaria, Actinoidea). By Journal of the Marine Biological Association of th (Jul 31 2014)
• Hidden among sea anemones: The first comprehensive phylogenetic reconstruction of the order Actiniaria (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Hexacorallia) reveals a novel group of hexacorals. By PLoS ONE (May 07 2014)
• Pyrosequencing the salivary transcriptome of Haemadipsa interrupta (Annelida: Clitellata: Haemadipsidae): anticoagulant diversity and insight into the evolution of anticoagulation capabilities in leeches. By Invertebrate Biology (Nov 08 2013)
• The evolutionary history of the order Antipatharia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) as inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA: Implications for black coral taxonomy and systematics. By Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (Sep 05 2013)
• Isoparactis fionae sp. nov. (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria) from Southern Patagonia with a discussion of the family Isanthidae. By Organisms Diversity and Evolution (Aug 14 2013)
• Telopathes magna gen. nov., spec. nov. (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Antipatharia: Schizopathidae) from deep waters off Atlantic Canada and the first molecular phylogeny of the deep-sea family Schizopathidae. By Zootaxa (Aug 13 2013)
• Discovery of Aphanipathes verticillata (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Antipatharia: Aphanipathidae) in the Hawaiian Islands. By Zootaxa (Jun 15 2012)
• Using morphometrics, in situ observations and genetic characters to distinguish among commercially valuable Hawaiian black coral species; a redescription of Antipathes grandis Verrill, 1928 (Antipatharia: Antipathidae). By Invertebrate Systematics (Aug 30 2010)
• Deep-sea octocorals and antipatharians show no evidence of seamount-scale endemism in the NW Atlantic. By Marine Ecology Progress Series (Dec 17 2009)
• Exploring the utility of an indel-rich, mitochondrial intergenic region as a molecular barcode for bamboo corals (Octocorallia: Isididae). By Marine Genomics (Nov 06 2009)
• The mitochondrial genome of a deep-sea bamboo coral (Cnidaria, Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Isididae): genome structure and putative origins of replication are not conserved among octocorals. By Journal of Molecular Evolution (May 28 2008)
• The phylum Cnidaria: A review of phylogenetic patterns & diversity three hundred years after Linneaus. By Zootaxa (Dec 21 2007)
• The complete mitochondrial genome of the black coral Chrysopathes formosa (Cnidaria:Anthozoa:Antipatharia) supports classification of antipatharians within the subclass Hexacorallia. By Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (Sep 06 2006)