Mammalogy

 

Link Olson

Curator of Mammals

Office: 036 Museum
Email: link.olson@alaska.edu

                                                                         

Link olson looking through a spotting scope
Education

Postdoctoral Fellow, Field Museum of Natural History, 2002-2003.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University, 1999-2001.
Ph.D. Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, 1999.
B.S. Natural Resources, University of Michigan, 1992.

Research Interests

Systematics, biogeography, evolution, and conservation of mammals from Madagascar, SE Asia,
and North America; molecular phylogenetics, phylogenomics, and phylogeography;
comparative and functional cranioskeletal morphology.
Publications since 2020

Theriot M, LE Olson & HC Lanier. In press. Accounting for age: Uncovering the nuanced drivers of mammal body-size responses to climate change. Journal of Mammalogy.

Juman MM, LE Olson & EJ Sargis. In press. Craniometric variation and taxonomic boundaries in the Madras Treeshrew (Scandentia, Tupaiidae: Anathana ellioti [Waterhouse, 1850]) from India. Journal of Mammalian Evolution.

Nachman MW and 118 coauthors, including LE Olson (somewhere in the middle). 2023. Specimen collection is essential for modern science. PLoS Biol 21: e3002318. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002318

Crandall KE, LE Olson & V Millien. 2023. Rocky rule: the idiosyncrasy of spatial and temporal size variation in mammals. Journal of Mammalogy 104:1216–1229. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyad083

Mills KK, KM Everson, Kyndall PB Hildebrandt, OV Brandler, SJ Steppan & LE Olson. 2023. Ultraconserved elements improve resolution of marmot phylogeny and offer insights into biogeographic history. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 184:107785. 10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107785

Balete DS, LR Heaney, EA Rickart, RS Quidlat, DM Rowsey & LE Olson. 2023. A re-assessment of diversity among Philippine gymnures (Mammalia: Erinaceidae: Podogymnura), with a new species from eastern Mindanao. Zootaxa 5228:244 266. 10.11646/zootaxa.5228.3.2

Juman MM, N Woodman, A Miller-Murthy, LE Olson & EJ Sargis. 2022 Taxonomic boundaries in Lesser Treeshrews (Scandentia, Tupaiidae: Tupaia minor Günther, 1876). Journal of Mammalogy 103:1431-1440. 10.1093/jmammal/gyac080

Juman MM, V Millien, LE Olson & EJ Sargis. 2022. Recent and rapid ecogeographical rule reversals in Northern Treeshrews. Scientific Reports 12:19689. 10.1038/s41598-022-23774w

Theriot M, HC Lanier & LE Olson. 2022. Harnessing natural history collections to detect trends in body-size change as a response to warming: A critique and review of best practices. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 14: 306-318. 10.1111/2041-210X.13861

Kays R, M Lasky, ML Allen, R Dowler, MTR Hawkins, AG Hope, BA Kohli, VL Mathis, B McLean, LE Olson, CW Thompson, D Thornton, J Widness & MV Cove. 2022. Which mammals can be identified from camera traps and crowdsourced photographs? Journal of Mammalogy 103:767–775. 10.1093/jmammal/gyac021

Juman MM, LE Olson & EJ Sargis. 2021. Skeletal variation and taxonomic boundaries in the Pen-tailed Treeshrew (Scandentia, Ptilocercidae: Ptilocercus lowii Gray, 1848). Journal of Mammalian Evolution 28:1193–1203. 10.1007/s10914-021-09556-7

Juman MM, N Woodman, LE Olson & EJ Sargis. 2021. Ecogeographic variation and taxonomic boundaries in Large Treeshrews (Scandentia, Tupaiidae: Tupaia tana Raffles, 1821) from Southeast Asia. Journal of Mammalogy 102:1054–1066. 10.1093/jmammal/gyab059

Woodman N, A Miller-Murthy, LE Olson & EJ Sargis. 2021. The limitations of external measurements for aging small mammals: the cautionary example of the Lesser Treeshrew (Scandentia: Tupaiidae: Tupaia minor Günther, 1876). Journal of Mammalogy 102:1079–1086. 10.1093/jmammal/gyab055

Annapragada A, CE Brook, MS Luskin, RP Rahariniaina, M Helin, O Razafinarivo, RA Ralaiarison, HJ Randriamady, LE Olson, SM Goodman & CD Golden. 2021. Evaluation of tenrec population viability and potential sustainable management under hunting pressure in northeastern Madagascar. Animal Conservation 24:1059–1070. 10.1111/acv.12714

Olson LE. 2021. The enduring—and evolving—museum conscience. Journal of Mammalogy 102:5–7. 10.1093/jmammal/gyab006

Everson KM, SA Jansa, SM Goodman & LE Olson. 2020. Montane regions shape patterns of diversification in small mammals and reptiles from Madagascar’s moist evergreen forest. Journal of Biogeography 2020:2059–2072. Editor’s Choice. 10.1111/jbi.13945

Everson KM, SM Goodman & LE Olson. 2020. Speciation and gene flow in two sympatric small mammals from Madagascar, Microgale fotsifotsy and M. soricoides (Mammalia: Tenrecidae). Molecular Ecology 29:1717–1729. 10.1111/mec.15433

Woodman N, A Miller-Murthy, LE Olson & EJ Sargis. 2020. Coming of age: Morphometric variation in the hand skeletons of juvenile and adult Lesser Treeshrews (Scandentia: Tupaiidae: Tupaia minor Günther, 1876). Journal of Mammalogy. 101:1151–1164. 10.1093/jmammal/gyaa056

Weiss KR, SGB Chester, LE Olson & EJ Sargis. 2020. Postcranial skeletal variation in pencil-tailed tree mice (Rodentia: Muridae: Chiropodomys): Functional, ecogeographic, and taxonomic implications. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 61:23–40. 10.3374/014.061.0102