The overarching theme of my research is understanding evolution, adaptation, movement, and persistence in situ by linking organisms to their changing biotic and abiotic landscapes. As part of this research program, I study adaptive traits, functional genomics, key innovations, landscape genomics, phylogenetics, the evolution of species boundaries, and conservation genetics.
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Landscape Genetics, Phylogeography, Adaptive Radiations, and Biodiversity of African Frogs
My primary research program focuses on diversification of African amphibians bridging the gap between population genetics, landscape genomics, and systematics/macroevolution. African amphibians have excellent potential to address fundamental questions in evolution and conservation. This system is of wide interest and high importance for landscape analyses of biodiversity, speciation mechanisms, adaptive divergence, and conservation. We've learned a lot about evolutionary processes from these clades including how species use ecosystem stratification to maximize overlap within wetlands, how landscape variables including major hydrobasins can influence divergence and speciation within closely related allopatric lineages, and identifying a number of new species with collaborators at the Field Museum, the British Natural History Museum, and the Science Museum of Trento (among others).
Lawson and Moyer 2008, Lawson 2010, Loader et al. 2011, Lawson and Collett 2011, Lawson and Zimkus 2011, Zimkus et al. 2012, Lawson 2013, Loader et al. 2015, Lawson 2015, Zimkus, Lawson et al. 2017, Barrett, Lawson et al. 2017, Bittencourt-Silva, Lawson et al. 2017, Conradie et al. 2018, Lawson et al. 2018, Portik et al. 2019, Greenwood et al. 2020, Bwong et al. 2020. |
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Functional Genomics, Conservation Genomics, and Landscape Analyses of Darwin’s Finches
In Darwin's Finches, I primarily work on two aspects of the diversification within this classic island radiation: Landscape genomics including gene flow between island and functional genomics related to beak shape variation between populations within and between species.
Understanding evolutionary potential in a mosaic ecosystem (landscape genomics), long-term population genetics and extinction risk, and functional genomics of key morphological traits are particularly relevant to my interests in the relationship between animals and the (changing) landscape. Through a combination of genetics and genomics from museum specimens (~100 years old), we are tracking extinction and sustainability across the archipelago. We are also intimately involved with conservation genetics of the endangered Mangrove finch. We have looked at species introgression and evolutionary history across the Darwin's Finch radiation, and are currently exploring functional genomics of beak shape within the ground finches (Geospiza). My most recent projects involve investigating both adaptive and neutral variation within Darwin’s finches in high competition vs. low competition environments. Farrington and Lawson et al. 2014, Lawson et al. 2017, Lawson and Petren 2017, Farrington and Lawson et al. 2019, Lawson et al. 2019. |
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Hybrid Zone Dynamics, Evolutionary History of Contact, and Species Boundaries/SpeciationMy pre-doctoral work at Berkeley on Ensatina salamander hybrid zones and postdoctoral work on fire ant hybrid zone genomics piqued my interest in species interactions and the situational break-down of species barriers. I have since extended my research analyses to East African sengis, and plan to extend this research to genomic analyses of African amphibians and Darwin's Finches. Understanding inter-species interactions and potential hybridization is becoming increasingly relevant as climate shifts and habitat modification drive overlap and interactions of once allopatric species pairs. A better understanding of historical and current processes will allow better conservation under these circumstances.
Alexandrino et al. 2005, Lawson et al. 2013, Lawson et al., in press, Agwanda et al., in press. |
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Conservation Landscape Analyses
My work funded my National Geographic focuses on biodiversity and disappearing landscapes in East Africa. This is still an emerging area of research, but my goals are to use spatial analyses and detailed biodiversity surveys to better understand what species have been lost almost before they were ever found. In the Afromontane tropics, this is not uncommon where we discover new species only to never see them again due to landscape modification. Check out my National Geographic blog page for updates of this work!
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