Research

The movement of genes within and between populations is the key process that maintains genetic structure within species. The cessation of gene movement results in genetic isolation and allows drift and other microevolutionary processes to differentiate non-connected populations, which can lead to speciation.

However, these processes do not act in a vacuum, rather they operate in the real world with significant interactions caused by the local environment. As a result, a main emphasis for research in this laboratory is to understand not only how genes move within and between populations and the consequences of the movement patterns for overall intraspecific population genetic structure, but to include the understanding of how the ecology of organism and the community in which it is living influence the evolution of genetic structure.

The following funded research projects are currently active in the laboratory:

• NSF DEB-0640803: Analysis of Insect Mediated Pollen Dispersal in The Understory Tree Cornus florida L.
• NSF DEB-0543102: The Evolution of Genetic Structure in Species-Specific Plant-Insect Relationships

Other research projects include:

• The Rice Center research Database
• Using googlemaps to geo-reference Population Graphs. Examples include:
  • Baja map for a Pedilanthus species we are working on
  • A data set for Acipenser sp.
• Fine scale spatial genetic structure, relatedness, and migration patterns in the marbled salamander, Ambystoma opacum.
• Extra-pair copulation and spatial autocorrelation of genetic structure in the Prothonotary warbler Protonotaria citrea.
• Using whole genome amplification techniques to accurately resolve multilocus haplotypes from individual pollen grains.
• The effects of the invasive grass, Microstegium vimineum on recruitment for the understory tree species Cornus florida and Cercis canadensis within the Piedmont region of Virginia.
• Genetic structure of the invasive species Microstegium vimineum in the James River Basin.