Faculty

Information on joining the program as a faculty member


	William L. Baker Professor of Geography E-mail: bakerwl@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/geog/displayfaculty.asp?facultyid=3262 Publications
My main interest is in landscape ecology, focusing on human and natural disturbances in Southern Rocky Mountain landscapes, historical changes in landscapes, and implications for natural resource management. Recent research projects have included global change effects on treeline in Rocky Mountain National Park, fire history in montane and subalpine landscapes in Rocky Mountain National Park, effects of a large natural blowdown in northern Colorado, and landscape change in the San Juan Mountains. I use GIS as a tool in many analyses, as well as spatial models, global positioning systems, and other quantitative geographical tools. I have recently coedited books on forest fragmentation in the southern Rocky Mountains (Univ. Colorado Press), spatial modeling of forest landscape change (Cambridge Univ. Press), and fire and climatic change in temperate ecosystems of the western Americas (Springer), and am coauthor of a forthcoming book on legacies of human activities in Southwestern Colorado and promising visions for restoration (Univ. of Utah Press). I am initiating work on restoration of native plants in degraded semi-arid landscapes and a book-length treatment of the natural vegetation of the Southern Rocky Mountains.
	Jeffrey L. Beck Assistant Professor of Wildlife Habitat Restoration Ecology E-mail: jlbeck@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/UWRENEWABLE/Faculty/J_Beck.asp
My primary research interests lie in bridging fundamental and applied aspects of restoration ecology to better understand how to restore the functionality of and mitigate impacts to wildlife habitats following large-scale anthropogenic and natural disturbances. A particular emphasis of my research concerns restoration efforts relative to species inhabiting sagebrush steppe systems. I have additional wildlife habitat research experience/interests in forested systems, particularly aspen-dominated forests. I have complementary ecological research interests in wildlife population and habitat monitoring; wildlife nutritional ecology; linking habitat conditions with population demographic parameters; quantifying habitat availability, habitat selection, and habitat quality; and modeling wildlife habitat–relationships. In my studies, I seek to understand responses of habitat restoration efforts across a range of spatial and temporal scales.
	Merav Ben-David Associate Professor of Zoology E-mail: bendavid@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/zoology/displayfaculty.asp?facultyid=6106
My main interest revolves around the interaction between animal behavioral ecology, population dynamics, and ecosystem function. I mainly study carnivores and use the transport of nutrient from sea to land as a model system. To study those interactions, I use isotopic and genetic tracers. For example, I investigate the effects of trade-off between nutritional requirements and risk of infanticide on consumption of salmon by female brown bears, and how female decisions made based on this trade-off influence the transfer of salmon-derived nutrients to terrestrial vegetation.
	Craig Benkman Professor of Zoology and Robert B. Berry Chair in Ecology E-mail: cbenkman@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/benkman Publications
My research interests lie within behavior, ecology and evolution. What unites them is my belief that many interesting and important questions can only be answered with an understanding of resource availability. Consequently, much of my research has focused on linking resource availability to various aspects of behavior, ecology and evolution. We mostly study crossbills (Loxia) because we can quantify resource availability in the wild and we can bring food resources into the laboratory where we can ask meaningful questions with captive crossbills. It also allows us to combine our interests in behavior, plant and animal ecology, and evolution. One of my current projects addresses whether and how a coevolutionary arms race between crossbills and lodgepole pine is causing crossbills to speciate and another project is determining how important coevolution has been in the adaptive radiation of crossbills.
	Alex Buerkle Assistant Professor of Botany E-mail: buerkle@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/buerkle Publications
Research in my lab focuses on the genetics of adaptation and speciation. Obviously, both of these evolutionary processes operate within an ecological context. Thus, I am particularly interested in understanding the basis of traits that are of substantial functional and ecological importance. Similarly, I am interested in the ecological determinants of the outcomes of hybridization, including speciation. Current work in the lab involves statistical genetic analyses of domestication of sunflowers, and of natural hybrid zones of sunflowers and Populus. In addition, I have begun studies of the biogeography and population genetics of rare endemics of the intermountain flora (several species of Penstemon). Several of these species occupy extreme habitats, in which few other plant species are found, and several opportunities exist to extend this work to examine the physiology, life history and genetics of these endemics.
	Ingrid C. Burke Wyoming Excellence Chair/Director E-mail: iburke@uwyo.edu
Biogeochemical cycling in semiarid ecosystems, at local to regional scales; Soil carbon and nitrogen turnover; Nitrogen retention in soils; Influences of land use management on net ecosystem production and C, N, and P storage; Almost anything at all about ecosystem ecology!; Environmental literacy for college students; Pedagogical techniques
	Steven Buskirk Professor of Zoology and Physiology E-mail: marten@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/buskirk Publications
I am interested in a wide range of terrestrial ecological processes, including community structure, small population processes, landscape-level environmental change, and population genetics. The animal models that I study include various mammalian taxa, but I work mostly with small and mid-sized carnivores and their prey. The tools used by my students and me are exceedingly diverse, and chosen to fit the question, taxon, location, and circumstances of the study. The include biotelemetry, molecular markers, stable isotopes, GIS, and observing animals with our eyes. Most of the research I do is somehow related to an animal conservation issue, although in some cases indirectly.
	Mark Clementz Assistant Professor of Paleobiology Department of Geology and Geophysics E-mail: mclemen1@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://geology.uwyo.edu/?q=Dr.%20Mark%20T.%20Clementz
My research interests center on understanding the ecological relationships among organisms within ancient ecosystems. For the past several years, I have been particularly interested in the study of the evolutionary ecology of marine mammals including sirenians (e.g., manatees, dugongs) and cetaceans (e.g., whales, dolphins, porpoises). The primary tools I use for this research are stable isotope analyses of the inorganic and organic fraction of fossil remains, which can provide information on the diet and habitat preferences of extinct organisms that might not be interpretable from the morphology or depositional setting. Recently, an increasing component of my research has included work in modern marine and terrestrial ecosystems as a means of testing interpretations of geochemical results from fossil remains. Two examples of these projects include a long term study of the feeding habits of manatees in the Indian River Lagoon of Florida and analysis of lifetime feeding habits and nutritional ecology of desert tortoises in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts with colleagues at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park.
	Tim Collier Assistant Professor of Biocontrol Entomology Department of Renewable Resources E-mail: tcollier@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/RenewableResources/entomology/Collier.htm
My research encompasses the theoretical and applied aspects of insect ecology and biological control, the use of living organisms to control insect pests and weeds. A current research focus is the behavioral and population ecology of host specificity in insects used as weed biological control agents. The primary question is: what behavioral and ecological factors influence host specificity and impact of biological control agents in the field? The key goal is to maximize impact on the weed and minimize impact on native, non-target species. A second area of research involves interactions among parasitoid wasps used in biological control of Hawaiian fruit fly pests. Here the key issue is coexistence of competing species, and direct and indirect interactions in parasitoid-host food webs.
	Daniel F. Doak Professor of Zoology E-mail: ddoak@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://bio.research.ucsc.edu/people/doaklab
My research projects span population and community ecology, and also a variety of interests in both conservation biology and also basic ecology and life history biology. My students work on a even broader range of interests. Past students have worked on topics as diverse as raptor-rodent interactions, honey bee-bumble bee competition, parasitic plant ecology, exotic tree diseases, and behavior of aposematic beetles. Current lab members are similarly broad. My own current projects include the demography and control of range limits of arctic-alpine plants, the role of termites in structuring East African savannah communities, and the use of demographic models to predict extinction risk and the best management methods for numerous threatened species.
	Brent E. Ewers Assistant Professor of Botany E-mail: beewers@uwyo.edu Web page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/botany/ewers.htm
My research in plant physiological ecology focuses on discerning the physiological controls of the fluxes of water, carbon, and nutrients through ecosystems. Several research projects are underway in my laboratory, utilizing techniques such as sap flow, porometry, centrifuge-based vulnerability to cavitation, stable isotopes of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, soil physical measurements, and direct measurements of biomass partitioning in plants. I am investigating the impact of time since fire, tree species composition, and soil drainage on the water budgets of boreal forests in central Manitoba, and the impact of tree species and landscape position on carbon and water cycling in forests of northern Wisconsin and the Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming. In collaboration with Dr. Elise Pendall, I am quantifying the effects of fire on carbon and water fluxes from sagebrush steppe at sites in Wyoming.
	Robert O. Hall, Jr. Associate Professor of Zoology E-mail: bhall@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/bhall
Research Interests: I study stream and river ecology. My work extends from population biology of invasions to biogeochemistry of nitrogen, and organisms range from microbes to fish. I am most interested in linking population ecology with ecosystem ecology and some current questions ask how animals alter nitrogen cycling in streams. I am also interested in food webs, because they provide a framework for understanding links between animal populations and ecosystem processes (such as consumption of primary production). Some current projects are: 1. Impacts of land use on nitrate uptake and retention in streams in Jackson, Wyoming 2. Linking carbon budgets and food web flows in the Colorado River, Grand Canyon 3. Role of a migratory detritrus-feeding fish on ecosystem processes in Venezuela
	Ann Hild Associate Professor of Renewable Resources E-mail: annhild@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/UWRENEWABLE/Faculty/A_Hild.asp
I am a shrubland ecologist who focuses on restoration of shrublands in the face of exotic invasive species, fire and anthorpogenic uses such as grazing and mining. My research targets primary and secondary impacts of invasive species on sagebrush steppe, northern mixed prairie grasslands, salt desert shrublands, and threatened and endangered species in Wyoming, Colorado and the Intermountain West. As a result, I have worked in habitat management for Colorado butterfly plant, Greater sage grouse and with revegetation efforts on the Snake River Plain, Thunder Basin and on wildife refuges in the Wyoming Basin and tallgrass prairies. My students have examined response of native vegetation to invasive species and management history using greenhouse, field, genetic, biocontrol and spatial database approaches. I teach graduate courses in rangeland resources, shrubland ecology, research proposal writing, and the graduate seminar in Research Across Disciplines (RAD).
	Stephen T. Jackson Professor of Botany E-mail: jackson@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/botany/jackson.htm Publications
Research in my lab centers on ecological responses to environmental variation (particularly climate) at decadal to millennial timescales. I am particularly interested in linking ecological processes and climatic dynamics across timescales. We use a variety of tools to study past climatic variation and ecological changes, including pollen and plant macrofossils (from lakes, wetlands, and woodrat middens), tree-rings, stable isotopes, and testate amoebae. Ongoing projects include (1) the role of centennial to millennial climate variability in pacing late Holocene woody-plant migrations and population dynamics in the central Rocky Mountains and western Great Lakes regions, (2) the Quaternary biogeographic history of pines, spruces, and other trees in North America, and (3) the relative roles of successional processes and climate change in governing dynamics of wetlands. I am also initiating biogeographic and paleoeocological studies in the mountains of northeastern Mexico.
	Matthew J. Kauffman Assistant Professor of Zoology and Physiology Assistant Leader, Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit E-mail: mkauffm1@uwyo.edu
My research interests range from demography and population dynamics of animal species, to community-level consequences of herbivory and predation, and landscape ecology of wildlife populations. A common theme of much of my work is a desire to connect ecological research with applied conservation issues, particularly regarding animal populations. Some recent projects have evaluated the management and recovery of peregrine falcons, the effects of range management on carnivores in southern Africa, the dynamics of elk populations, and trophic interactions among wolves, elk and aspen. Much of my current work, and that of my students, is focused on the ecology and management of Rocky Mountain ungulates and their predators. Nevertheless, interesting ecological questions that have a bearing on real-world conservation will always capture my interest regardless of taxa or study system. As the Assistant Unit Leader for Wildlife at the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, my research program also addresses the priority needs of state and federal wildlife managers. Consequently, students in my lab often work closely with wildlife managers outside of academia.
	Amy Krist Research Scientist, Zoology and Physiology E-mail: krist@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/krist Publications
My research seeks to understand host-parasite relationships and invasion biology in an ecological and evolutionary context. In snail-trematode interactions, I study the consequences of parasitism to the evolution of host-life histories. I also study the role of life-history, and other determinants of host condition, on resistance to infection. A current project in invasion biology addresses the ecological and evolutionary impacts of the invasive New Zealand mud snail on native macroinivertebrates in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Additionally, my collaborator, Mark Dybdahl, and I are investigating the role of release from coevolved enemies to the success of the invasive New Zealand mud snail.
	William K. Lauenroth Professor of Botany E-mail: wlauenro@uwyo.edu
I am very broadly interested in ecosystems in dry areas. My past work has focused largely on grasslands and I expect most of my future research to shift towards questions associated with mixtures of grasses and shrubs or in ecosystems dominated by shrubs. A portion of my research has focused on plant population and community ecology. Within these general topics, my students and I have worked on demography, controls on recruitment, resource partitioning between grasses and woody plants, responses to and recovery from disturbance ranging from small to large spatial scale including grazing by domestic livestock. Another branch of the research my students and I have conducted falls within the realm of ecosystem ecology and has included above and belowground net primary production, carbon budgets, and water balance. I use simulation modeling as a key exploratory and analysis tool across all of the organizational and spatial scales of my research.
	Jeffrey A. Lockwood Professor of Natural Sciences & Humanities College of Arts and Sciences (Philosophy & Creative Writing) E-mail: lockwood@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/Philosophy/faculty/lockwood.asp Publications
I conduct research that focuses on studies, analyses, explorations, syntheses, critiques, and expressions of the interface between natural sciences and the humanities/arts. This work includes, but is not limited to, philosophy and creative writing. My studies in philosophy pertain to environmental and natural resource ethics, as well as environmental justice. My efforts in writing are primarily in the genre of creative non-fiction and nature writing, including book-length works, essays, and shorter pieces. I also pursue scholarly studies at the interface between religion and the natural sciences, with a focus on the transcendental tradition, intellectual pluralism/pragmatism, and panentheistic perspectives.
	Carlos Martínez del Rio Professor of Zoology E-mail: cmdelrio@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/cmdelrio/site/welcome.html Publications
I am a functional ecologist. My research focuses on the mechanisms that animals use to garner resources and on the evolutionary causes and ecological consequences of these mechanisms. For both scientific and esthetic reasons, I work with animal-plant mutualisms. In my laboratory we study birds and bats that pollinate flowers and that disperse seeds. We study how they assimilate food, how they use the nutrients that they assimilate to grow and reproduce, and how they detoxify the nasty substances that are often found in natural products. We use simple mathematical models to scale up the physiological processes in organs and organisms to their consequences for ecosystem processes. We have three active areas of research in the laboratory: 1) We are investigating how nectar-feeding animals cope with the astounding amounts of water that they ingest; 2) we are using the distinctive stable isotope signatures of carbon and hydrogen in succulent CAM plants to track the flux of resources from this “functional group” of plants into the coterie of animals that consume their nectar and fruit in subtropical desert ecosystems; and 3) we are investigating how seed-dispersing birds create pattern in the spatial distribution of the mistletoes that they feed on.
	David B. McDonald Associate Professor of Zoology E-mail: dbmcd@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/dbmcd/mcd.html
I work at the intersection of behavioral ecology, demography and molecular ecology. I am interested in how social systems interact with genetic structure in lek-mating birds, in how landscapes have affected the geographic structure of vertebrate populations and how matrix-based demographic models illumine social behavior. Although my primary organismal interest is birds, my students have used genetic markers to explore questions in mammals and fish as well as birds. Current projects include the evolution of cooperation in lek-mating Long-tailed Manakins (Costa Rica), the genetics and mating system of high-elevation rosy-finches, and the demography of endangered black-footed ferrets.
	Kiona Ogle Assistant Professor of Botany and Statistics E-mail: Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/oglelab Publications
My research merges ecology, statistics, and mathematics to address a variety of ecological problems. Currently, my interests fall under four main themes. (1) Linking physiological, community, and ecosystem ecology. This work explores how species-specific physiology, allometry, and life-history traits contribute to the organization and function of forest communities. (2) Plant-soil-atmosphere interactions in aridlands. This work couples field experiments, stable isotopes, inverse analysis, and mathematical and statistical models to examines how shifts in annual, seasonal, and pulse precipitation affect desert plants (e.g., physiology, growth) and ecosystems (e.g., carbon and water exchange). (3) Real-time data-model integration. Here, Bayesian updating and optimal, adaptive sampling methods are being developed for analyzing field data as they become available, providing a framework for improved and accelerated learning cycles for ecological systems. This framework operates through formalized feedbacks between data collection and analysis, modeling, and synthesis. (4) Modeling plant-water relations. Statistical and mathematical approaches, coupled with data, are being employed to address problems such as: inferring vulnerability of plant xylem to drought-induced cavitation; tapering of xylem conduit radii in trees and implications for water transport and plant architecture; and, quantifying the effects of severe droughts on pinyon-juniper woodlands in the Southwest.
	Elise Pendall Assistant Professor of Botany E-mail: pendall@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/botany/pendall.htm
I conduct research on carbon and water fluxes between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, and on the effects of global changes such as increasing carbon dioxide concentrations and land-use change on these fluxes. An important component of my work involves the use of stable isotopes as tracers to better quantify small changes in these fluxes that might not otherwise be detected. I also use stable isotopes in terrestrial proxies (tree rings, packrat middens, pedogenic carbonates) to reconstruct past changes in climate and hydrology. Current research projects focus on semi-arid grassland, shrubland and woodland ecosystems; a new project is being initiated on land-use effects on trace gas fluxes and carbon cycling in Panama.
Frank J. Rahel Professor of Zoology E-mail: frahel@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/frahel
My research involves fish ecology with a particular focus on streams, habitat relationships, and landscape ecology. My graduate students and I are addressing issues of fish habitat use and movement patterns in regards to both large spatial scales and patchiness. We are interested in what constitutes a habitat patch, how patches are rearranged by disturbances such as floods, and what factors influence fish movement among patches. Another area of interest is the homogenization of aquatic biota across the world through habitat alteration and species introductions. Much of our research involves species of conservation concern including native trout and nongame fishes such as native minnows in prairie streams. One of our current projects in this area involves the role of irrigation canals as a population sink for cutthroat trout.
	William A. Reiners Professor of Botany E-mail: reiners@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/botany/reiners.htm
Research in my lab is primarily at the ecosystem level--particularly biogeochemical processes with a strong temporal-spatial orientation. My long-term goal is to better understand the controls of ecological processes across a wide range of scales, from meters to kilometers to 1000s of kilometers. Typically, my colleagues and I examine these processes in the context of temporal variation as resulting from disturbance events followed by succession, and in terms of spatial variation occurring across landscapes or regions. GIS and remote sensing tools are involved in virtually all projects in his lab. While ecosystem questions are foremost in our laboratory, many activities could also be described as "landscape ecology." We are involved in producing ecologically meaningful maps of local landscapes and the state as a whole, and in modeling processes such as alien plant invasions, pollen transport and redistribution of snow by wind using GIS and statistical tools. A primary focal area is on the propagation of cause and effect across landscapes through transport mechanisms.
	Bryan Shuman Assistant Professor of Geology and Geophysics E-mail: bshuman@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://geology.uwyo.edu/?q=Dr.%20Bryan%20N.%20Shuman%20
My research focuses on long-term changes in the availability of water, and how these changes shape ecosystem composition, pattern, and process. In particular, I have been using geologic evidence to study how the water levels of lakes in North America have changed over centuries to millennia during the past 15,000 years, and am comparing these records of past moisture levels with fossil and geochemical evidence of past vegetation, disturbances, and other ecosystem phenomena. In doing so, I seek to understand how ecosystems from the landscape- to continental-scale respond to climate change. By comparing lake-level data from across the continent, I am also examining the climatic processes that cause moisture fluctuations through time. Students working with me have worked on 1) paleoclimate reconstruction and diagnosing the causes of past climate changes, 2) vegetation and fire history reconstruction and examining the role of disturbance (fire) for mediating vegetation responses to climate change, 3) spatially-explicit landscape modeling of past ecosystem changes, and 4) improving our understanding of the sedimentary and geochemical record of past environmental change.
	Peter D. Stahl Associate Professor of Soil Science Department of Renewable Resources E-mail: unclem@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/RenewableResources/soil/stahl.htm
The foci of my research program are soil microbial ecology and restoration ecology and the interface of these two disciplines. I employ an integrated approach in my work combining analyses of community structure and function as well as environmental influences. Topics we are currently investigating include: 1) spatial and temporal variability of soil microbial communities; 2) response and recovery of soil microbial communities and their ecosystem functions to various forms of disturbance; 3) influence of land management practices on soil microbial community structure and function.
	Dan Tinker Assistant Professor of Botany and Renewable Resources and ENR E-mail: tinker@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/Botany/Tinker2.htm
Much of my research is conducted in the Greater Yellowstone-Teton Ecosystem in northwestern Wyoming, and involves ecosystem responses to large, natural disturbances such as fire. In addition, I use GIS and remote sensing to investigate the consequences of landscape-scale spatial heterogeneity in ecological systems. My current work is focused on understanding how the observed variation in post-fire plant communities in the Greater Yellowstone-Teton Ecosystem affects important ecosystem processes such as decomposition and nitrogen mineralization, how these processes vary at the landscape scale, and how the effects of post-fire community structure change over time in young, developing forests.
	David Williams Associate Professor of Plant Isotope Ecology Department of Renewable Resources E-mail: dgw@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://www.uwyo.edu/dgw/index.html Publications
I am a plant physiological ecologist who uses stable isotopes to investigate plant responses to environmental changes in space and time, and the expression of plant metabolic functions at the ecosystem level. My current projects focus on (1) the role of precipitation variability in grassland and savanna ecosystem dynamics, (2) integration of carbon and water cycles in environments characterized by pulsed resource renewal, (3) spatial and temporal patterns of resource capture by woody plant root systems, (4) plant controls on ecosystem water balance, and (5) isotopic records of plant responses to climate change in deserts.
	Naomi Ward Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology E-mail: nlward@uwyo.edu Web Page: http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/uwmolecbio/Faculty/N_Ward.asp
Our research focuses on microbial genomics, ecology, and systematics, and interactions between these research areas. Specifically, we study the biology of the planctomycetes, acidobacteria, and verrucomicrobia, using genomic and post-genomic approaches. These three groups, while phylogenetically unrelated, are united in having a cosmopolitan distribution in aquatic and terrestrial environments, and being relatively understudied and poorly characterized. We are starting to gain an understanding of their ecological importance - e.g. some planctomycetes have been recently demonstrated to carry out the anaerobic oxidation of ammonium (³anammox²), and it appears that anammox planctomycetes play a significant role in the global nitrogen cycle - but much work remains to be done. A secondary focus is the structure and function of microbial communities, both free-living (East African savanna soils, deep-sea coral habitats, and Galapagos Rift hydrothermal vents), and associated with the human host (gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts).
	Cynthia Weinig Associate Professor of Evolutionary Genetics E-mail: cweinig@uwyo.edu
The majority of variation segregating in natural populations is quantitative, and its expression depends on genetic background, environment, and interactions with these two factors. Traditionally, the evolution of quantitative traits has been described using statistical genetic techniques. However, one of the greatest advantages of these approaches is also one of their primary limitations: it is possible to estimate genetic variation and covariation in traits without any direct knowledge of the underlying loci or molecular genetic details. In like fashion, it is possible to estimate the pattern of natural selection on quantitative traits in the absence of knowledge of loci that determine fitness. Advances in collecting and analyzing molecular data promise to reveal the molecular genetic basis of quantitative trait variation. In our lab, we focus on understanding genetic mechanisms of adaptation to competition, the role of the circadian clock in competitive responses and in adaptation to seasonal settings, and the genetic basis of quantitative variation in floral morphology. In sum, our work spans the fields of ecology, evolution, and genetics.

Faculty

Quick Links