Grant NEWS! 2020
I'm happy to announce that I have received an Evolutionary Processes NSF grant (2020-2023) to study systematics and speciation in Hyperolius viridiflavus frogs in East and South Africa. Looking forward to expanding this central area of my research program starting this Fall! I'm also ridiculously excited for the educational outreach activities that I have planned with my partner schools in the Cincinnati Public School System and the Cincinnati Museum Center. "Baseball cards", painting frogs, and maps - so many of my favorite things!
I'm happy to announce that I have received an Evolutionary Processes NSF grant (2020-2023) to study systematics and speciation in Hyperolius viridiflavus frogs in East and South Africa. Looking forward to expanding this central area of my research program starting this Fall! I'm also ridiculously excited for the educational outreach activities that I have planned with my partner schools in the Cincinnati Public School System and the Cincinnati Museum Center. "Baseball cards", painting frogs, and maps - so many of my favorite things!
Grant NEWS! 2021
My collaborators at the University of Idaho (Christine Parent and Eric Mittelstaedt) and I were awarded our NSF Research Coordination Network Grant! This grant will run for 5 years, supporting interdisciplinary meetings to better understand island (and island-like; i.e., mountains) systems by integrating biology, climate science, and geology at the onset of hypothesis forming. This disrupts the usual unidirectional flow of hypothesis-creating in biology where we build hypotheses based on geologic "facts". By combining all of our "knowns" and "unknowns", we will better be able to advance the field of island systems.
We have already held two meetings (Moscow, Idaho and Cincinnati, Ohio) and have more in the works! Please see our new website: https://galapagosnetwork.org
My collaborators at the University of Idaho (Christine Parent and Eric Mittelstaedt) and I were awarded our NSF Research Coordination Network Grant! This grant will run for 5 years, supporting interdisciplinary meetings to better understand island (and island-like; i.e., mountains) systems by integrating biology, climate science, and geology at the onset of hypothesis forming. This disrupts the usual unidirectional flow of hypothesis-creating in biology where we build hypotheses based on geologic "facts". By combining all of our "knowns" and "unknowns", we will better be able to advance the field of island systems.
We have already held two meetings (Moscow, Idaho and Cincinnati, Ohio) and have more in the works! Please see our new website: https://galapagosnetwork.org
About me - Evolution in situ and conserving biodiversity into the future
I am a computational evolutionary biologist focused on understanding how species diverge and evolve in response to intrinsic and extrinsic forces in their environment. Much of my work looks at how past processes (vicariance, climate cycles, invasions, etc.) have lead to current patterns of distributions and divergence tackling both macro- and micro-evolutionary questions. I also work in conservation biology, using these past processes to predict ranges and population survival into the future for vulnerable species.
I am primarily a herpetologists, though I work on a diverse range of systems depending on the evolutionary or conservation question that needs to be answered. Though I have studied frogs and salamanders in North and South America as well, my main research system is African amphibians which are an ideal model for a wide range of evolutionary processes of high conservation priority. In addition to this system, I work extensively in Darwin's finches and have new projects developing in Appalachian salamanders. And as applying computational tools to a variety of systems is one of the perks of being a computational biologist, I dabble in fire ants, freshwater mussels, elephant shrews, moths, fruit flies, and whatever other collaborative projects come along that can benefit from an evolutionary perspective to understand why the world works in the way it does.
Recently, my evolutionary work has shifted to also incorporate strong conservation aspects as I have observed in "real time" the loss of biodiversity in the ecosystems that I study. For example, the extensive montane grasslands in Southern Tanzania that we identified as vulnerable to habitat loss almost two decades ago have functionally completely vanished due to the rise in agriculture and pine plantations - eliminating habitat for the unique species specialized to that ecosystem. As significant part of my current research program is extending our understanding of the current moment for a species of community, incorporating what we can infer of past states, and estimating future trajectories to create more effective conservation and management strategies.
I am a computational evolutionary biologist focused on understanding how species diverge and evolve in response to intrinsic and extrinsic forces in their environment. Much of my work looks at how past processes (vicariance, climate cycles, invasions, etc.) have lead to current patterns of distributions and divergence tackling both macro- and micro-evolutionary questions. I also work in conservation biology, using these past processes to predict ranges and population survival into the future for vulnerable species.
I am primarily a herpetologists, though I work on a diverse range of systems depending on the evolutionary or conservation question that needs to be answered. Though I have studied frogs and salamanders in North and South America as well, my main research system is African amphibians which are an ideal model for a wide range of evolutionary processes of high conservation priority. In addition to this system, I work extensively in Darwin's finches and have new projects developing in Appalachian salamanders. And as applying computational tools to a variety of systems is one of the perks of being a computational biologist, I dabble in fire ants, freshwater mussels, elephant shrews, moths, fruit flies, and whatever other collaborative projects come along that can benefit from an evolutionary perspective to understand why the world works in the way it does.
Recently, my evolutionary work has shifted to also incorporate strong conservation aspects as I have observed in "real time" the loss of biodiversity in the ecosystems that I study. For example, the extensive montane grasslands in Southern Tanzania that we identified as vulnerable to habitat loss almost two decades ago have functionally completely vanished due to the rise in agriculture and pine plantations - eliminating habitat for the unique species specialized to that ecosystem. As significant part of my current research program is extending our understanding of the current moment for a species of community, incorporating what we can infer of past states, and estimating future trajectories to create more effective conservation and management strategies.
Primary Research Areas:
Tools:
I address evolutionary, ecological, and conservation questions with a diverse set of tools: (1) field work collecting genetic, morphological, ecological, and life history information, (2) genomic analyses ranging from population genetics to functional genomics, (3) Landscape analyses employing GIS technology, and (4) computational analyses primarily though genomic pipelines or statistical analyses in R.
Background:
I did my undergraduate work at Macalester College in St. Paul MN and my PhD is from the University of Chicago (Committee on Evolutionary Biology). I am currently an Assistant Professor - Research at the University of Cincinnati in the Department of Biological Sciences and also teach in the Environmental Studies program.
- Macroevolutionary trends and key innovations: What are the landscape drivers of biodiversity? What traits are key innovations and what are evolutionary dead ends? What are the genetic networks that allow traits to re-evolve over and over again within a clade of taxa? - understanding the origins of biodiversity provides valuable conservation data for decision-making tools.
- Microevolutionary processes: How do species diverge and how do traits interact to reinforce speciation in closely distributed lineages (e.g., ring species). - defining which traits help constitute a distinct lineage within recently diverged populations is critical for conservation applications including IUCN species status.
- Landscape dynamics: How do landscape characteristics impact gene flow within fragmented populations? Cessation of gene flow is a fundamental process in speciation but also influences conservation planning when determining conservation units and potential areas of survival.
- Conservation Genomics and Ancient DNA: How robust are populations to predicted climate fluctuations or recent landscape fragmentation (recent past - museum specimens, ancient past - permafrost specimens)? Can historical museum specimens provide a guide for what we can expect for future survival?
Tools:
I address evolutionary, ecological, and conservation questions with a diverse set of tools: (1) field work collecting genetic, morphological, ecological, and life history information, (2) genomic analyses ranging from population genetics to functional genomics, (3) Landscape analyses employing GIS technology, and (4) computational analyses primarily though genomic pipelines or statistical analyses in R.
Background:
I did my undergraduate work at Macalester College in St. Paul MN and my PhD is from the University of Chicago (Committee on Evolutionary Biology). I am currently an Assistant Professor - Research at the University of Cincinnati in the Department of Biological Sciences and also teach in the Environmental Studies program.
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