Justin Bernstein
Postdoctoral Fellow, Mammalogy
- Email:
- [email protected]
Education
- Rutgers University-Newark, Ph.D., 2022
- Villanova University, M.S., 2016
- SUNY: College of Environmental Science and Forestry, B.S., 2012
Research Interests
My research interests lie in determining how species diversity and distribution patterns have changed over time and what extrinsic processes and intrinsic phenomena have led to these changes. I use reptile and mammal model systems to test hypotheses regarding speciation scenarios and investigate biodiversity patterns. While my research primarily relies on genomic data, I also incorporate environmental and morphological data for an integrative approach.
My work focuses on taxa from a variety of regions, including the United States, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean islands. By studying these taxonomic and geographic systems, I highlight how geological processes—such as tectonic shifts and paleoriver catchment events—and evolutionary phenomena, including introgression, coevolution, selection, and adaptation have shaped present-day faunal assemblages. While much of my work has centered on herpetological systems, I am excited to expand my research to bats in the Caribbean. This will allow me to develop a broader comparative framework to address key questions in evolutionary biology.
Website
My research interests, publications, and much more can be found on my website: https://justinbernstein.org/
Code
Check out my bioinformatics work for research on GitHub!
Publications
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=W33RrDAAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
Select Publications
Bernstein, J. M., Francioli, Y. Z., Schield, D. R., Adams, R. H., Perry, B. W., Farleigh, K., Smith, C. F., Meik, J. M., Mackessy, S. P., and Castoe, T. A. 2025. Disentangling a genome-wide mosaic of conflicting phylogenetic signals in Western Rattlesnakes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2025): 108309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2025.108309.
Bernstein, J. M., Bautista, J. B., Clores, M. A., Brown, R. M., Ruane, S., Sanguila, M. B., Alis-Besenio, M. G. J., Pejo, C. L. F., and Cuesta, M. A. 2024. Using mangrove and field-based observation data to determine microhabitat preference: a case study in Bockadams of the Philippines (Serpentes: Homalopsidae: Cerberus). Royal Society Open Science 11(10): 240483. https://www.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240483.
Bernstein, J. M., Voris, H. K., Stuart, B. L., Karns, D. R., McGuire, J. A., Iskandar, D. T., Riyanto, A., Calderón-Acevedo, C. A., Brown, R. M., Gehara, M., Soto-Centeno, J. A., and Ruane, S. 2024. Integrative Methods Reveal Multiple Drivers of Diversification in Rice Paddy Snakes. Scientific Reports 14: 4727. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54744-z.
Roberts, J. R.*, Bernstein, J. M.*, Austin, C. C., Hains, T., Mata, J., Kieras, M., Pirro, S., and Ruane S. 2024. Whole Snake Genomes from Eighteen Families of Snakes (Serpentes: Caenophidia) and Their Applications to Systematics. Journal of Heredity: esae026. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esae026.
*Shared first authorship
Bernstein, J. M., de Souza, H. F., Murphy, J. C., Voris, H. K., Brown, R. M., Myers, E. A., Harrington, S., Shanker, K., and Ruane, S. 2023. Phylogenomics of Fresh and Formalin Specimens Resolves the Systematics of Old World Mud Snakes (Serpentes: Homalopsidae) and Expands Biogeographic Inference. Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists 2(1): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.18061/bssb.v2i1.9393.
Check out Justin's Google Scholar for a list of publications.
Download Justin’s CV to see his full academic track.
Go to Justin’s website for his research and outreach program.