Swee Peck Quek

Research Interests

Evolutionary ecology of symbiotic associations; evolution and ecology of human pathogens and parasites; mutualism and parasitism; anthropological and natural history of Southeast Asia; human evolution and ecology; insects; history of life.

Education

2006-2007	MSc. Public Health (Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases)
2004-2006	Postdoctoral fellow, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
2004	PhD in Biology, Harvard University.
1997	BA (cum laude) in Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley.
1990	Diploma in Fine Arts. La Salle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore.

Publications and presentations

Quek, S-P., S. J. Davies, P. S. Ashton, T.Itino and N.E. Pierce. 2007. The geography of diversification in mutualistic ants: a gene's-eye view into the Neogene history of Sundaland rain forests. Molecular Ecology 16: xxx-xxx. OnlineEarly [PDF]

Steiner, F. M., B. C. Schlick-Steiner, H. Konrad, T. A. Linksvayer, S.-P. Quek, E. Christian, C. Stauffer and A. Buschinger. (2006) Phylogeny and evolutionary history of queen polymorphic Myrmecina ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). European Journal of Entomology 103: 619-626.

Quek, S.-P. (2004) Evolutionary Ecology of the Crematogaster – Macaranga Mutualism and an Ant’s-Eye View to Southeast Asian Rain Forest History. Ph. D. thesis. Harvard University.

Quek, S.-P., S. J. Davies, T. Itino and N. E. Pierce. (2004) Codiversification in an ant-plant mutualism: stem texture and the evolution of host association in Crematogaster (Myrmicinae: Formicidae) associates of Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae). Evolution 58: 554-570. [PDF]

Sousa, W. P., S. P. Quek, and B. J. Mitchell. (2003) Regeneration of Rhizophora mangle in a Caribbean mangrove forest: interacting effects of canopy disturbance and a stem-boring beetle. Oecologia 137: 436-445. [PDF]

Quek, S.-P., S. J. Davies, T. Itino, and N. E. Pierce. Did Macaranga and Crematogaster Cospeciate? Phylogeny of Host Use in a Southeast Asian Ant – Plant Mutualism. Talk presented at IUSSI (International Union for the Study of Social Insects) International Congress in Sapporo, Japan, 2002.

in preparation

Ueda, S., S.-P. Quek, K. Inamori and T. Itino. Coevolution of ant-plant-homopteran tripartite mutualistic symbiosis. Manuscript in preparation.

Past Research

Herbivory on Rhizophora mangle propagules by the bark beetle Coccotrypes rhizophorae: implications for forest dynamics in a Panamanian mangrove. (P. I. Prof. W. P. Sousa, U. C. Berkeley).

Feeding behaviour of the cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus in relation to reproductive status. P. I. Prof. Werner Loher & Larry Vaughan, U. C. Berkeley.

Quaternary vegetation change in San Francisco Bay through fossil pollen analysis. (P. I. Prof. A. R. Byrne, U. C. Berkeley).

Reconstruction of fire history of a Mexican lake surroundings through analysis of sediment magnetic susceptibility (P. I. Prof. A. Roger Byrne, U. C. Berkeley).

Languages

English (native speaker)

Indonesian and Malay (conversational and written)

Mandarin, Hokkien and TeoChew (conversational)

Toba Batak (rudimentary spoken, self-taught script literacy)

Thai (rusty)

Singlish (fluent)

Field work

Sumatra, Borneo, Malaya, North Sulawesi, Panama, South Africa.

Other Interests

Human evolution. Ethnology and languages of Southeast Asia. The Austronesian expansion.