MATT MCGEE
Student Researcher – Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve
Matt is currently a PhD student in the Razafindratsima Lab in the Integrative Biology department at UC Berkeley. He began his first field season at Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve in July 2024, where he is conducting lemur, bird, and arthropod surveys along an elevational gradient. Matt is interested in the processes that drive the spatial patterning of wildlife, with particular emphasis on the role of interspecific interactions. Tropical forests are Matt’s favorite biome, but this is his first time conducting research in Madagascar.
Matt previously received BAs in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of North Carolina and a MS in Environmental Science from Cal State Monterey Bay. He has also worked as a research technician for the University of Illinois, the University of Florida, the University of Tennessee, and Texas A&M, studying everything from the breeding biology of dung beetles to the role of corridors on seed dispersal. Most of his work has focused on endangered birds, and he is excited to continue chasing birds around the forest while in Madagascar.
Q&A with Matt
What draws you to a career in wildlife conservation?
I’m another one of those kids that grew up outside, and that’s where I still want to be. I spent my childhood on an old farm, with fields, forest, and a creek to explore, and I stumbled upon all kinds of wildlife: owls, snapping and box turtles, even a king snake eating a copperhead. The older I get, the more I realize how few people get the same opportunities that I had to be outdoors, and how so many people still try to seek out a connection with nature anyway. There is so much value in the wildlife and natural world that remain, even in the smallest city park, and I want to help protect as much of it as possible.
What is one of the most memorable experiences in your work so far?
Riding in a helicopter over the Everglades as the sun was rising, looking down at flocks of wading birds, all to go survey for endangered birds in designated wilderness that almost no one will ever visit—that’s pretty hard to beat.
Who or what inspires you?
In my junior year of undergrad, I took a special topics class: Classics in Animal Community Ecology. It was mostly graduate students, and I would huddle together with the other two undergrads while the grad students—who seemed so much smarter and worldly—would discuss the papers in detail, while we might offer a comment or two if we felt brave enough. Despite my trepidation to engage in the course, a couple of papers really jumped out at me: DH Janzen’s “Why Mountain Passes are Higher in the Tropics” and the E.O. Wilson and Robert MacArthur classic “An Equilibrium Theory of Insular Geography.” I was actually excited to contribute in class on the days we discussed those papers, and my fears fell away from me in that excitement. It even gave me the courage to talk more to the professor of that course, Dr. Geoffrey Bell, who took 45 minutes out of his schedule one day after class to talk to me and another undergrad about how to pursue a career in ecology. That conversation gave me direction, and those two papers gave me inspiration—even though I haven’t always been aware of it. But now, as I’m transitioning from conducting someone else’s research to figuring out what my own research looks like, I’ve realized how they became the framework for how I see the natural world.
Is there a book that has influenced you or made a strong impression?
While I’ve read some really enjoyable books about the natural world, it’s usually fiction that makes the strongest impression. Life of Pi made me think more resourcefully, One Hundred Years of Solitude made me think more expansively, The Lies of Locke Lamora made me think less structurally. If there’s one book that has influenced me more than others, however, it’s John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. The prose struck me like lightning, and I kept reading not to see what would happen, but to see how Steinbeck would describe what was happening. No other book has made me want to find my own writing voice like this one did—like it still does, even though I read it over a decade ago.
What is your favorite food?
1) Cornbread—I will make it sweet, savory, spicy, or some combination. It’s the food that connects me most to every iteration of myself that I’ve been throughout the years. 2) Ice cream—requires no explanation. 3) Barbecue—especially pulled pork with a sweet and tangy sauce. Throw in some macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, hush puppies, sweet tea, and banana pudding, and I will eat myself into oblivion.
What is your favorite movie?
Your Name, a beautiful anime written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. One of my students recommended it to me when I was teaching during my MS, and it blew me away. I came into class still tear-stained and had to stop teaching for 20 minutes to talk about it. I still listen to the score when I’m writing sometimes.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go, and why?
I wish I could give you some cool and unpredictable answer, but honestly, it’s still the Amazon rainforest for me. The Amazon was the defining biome of the animal books and shows that I grew up with, and it’s one of the reasons I became an ecologist. It’s been my answer for this question since I was a kid in rural North Carolina! I’m content knowing that I’ll never see everything or go everywhere—some piece of the world will always remain unknown to me, and that persistent mystery makes life more captivating. But if I never see the Amazon, its role in my life will always be abstract, when instead it feels like the one mystery I absolutely have to solve.
Besides lemurs, what is one of your favorite animals, and why?
Snakes were my favorite animal as a kid, and they’re still a favorite today. I found them fascinating, and the fear of everyone else around me made them even more interesting to me. I also love birds, particularly warblers (beautiful and fun), kingfishers (striking visuals), and wrens (tons of personality).
Why do you care about Madagascar and its wildlife?
There’s nothing like Madagascar’s wildlife anywhere else in the world. For many of the species in Madagascar, once we lose them, they’re gone—there’s no sister population in another country that we can use to replenish the gene pool. This incredible and unique biodiversity should be protected, understood, and celebrated in a way that also benefits the Malagasy people. The country is rich in kindness as well as biodiversity, and it should be richer in many other ways as well.