My research interests include understanding prehistoric human movements in the Indo-Pacific region using ancient and modern DNA of domesticated animals, and agricultural transitions in Island Southeast Asia (ISEA). I am also interested in the phylogeography of various animal species in ISEA.

Selected Works
Thomson, V. A., Herrera, M., & Austin, J. J. (2022). Commensals/Domesticates on Rapa Nui: What Can Their Phylogeographic Patterns Tell Us About the Discovery and Settlement of the Island?. In The Prehistory of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Towards an Integrative Interdisciplinary Framework (pp. 41-62). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Herrera, M. B., Kraitsek, S., Alcalde, J. A., Quiroz, D., Revelo, H., Alvarez, L. A., ... & Gongora, J. (2020). European and Asian contribution to the genetic diversity of mainland South American chickens. Royal Society Open Science, 7(2), 191558.

Kealy, S., Donnellan, S. C., Mitchell, K. J., Herrera, M., Aplin, K., O'Connor, S., & Louys, J. (2019). Phylogenetic relationships of the cuscuses (Diprotodontia: Phalangeridae) of island Southeast Asia and Melanesia based on the mitochondrial ND2 gene. Australian Mammalogy, 42(3), 266-276.

Boast, A. P., Chapman, B., Herrera, M. B., Worthy, T. H., Scofield, R. P., Tennyson, A. J., ... & Mitchell, K. J. (2019). Mitochondrial genomes from New Zealand’s extinct adzebills (Aves: Aptornithidae: Aptornis) support a sister-taxon relationship with the Afro-Madagascan Sarothruridae. Diversity, 11(2), 24.

Herrera, M. B., Thomson, V. A., Wadley, J. J., Piper, P. J., Sulandari, S., Dharmayanthi, A. B., ... & Austin, J. J. (2017). East African origins for Madagascan chickens as indicated by mitochondrial DNA. Royal Society Open Science, 4(3), 160787.