Jim's primary research interests are in phylogenetics, biogeography, and comparative biology of reptiles, amphibians, and hummingbirds. His current research has three primary foci. The first involves application of phylogenetic and coalescent-based population genetic methods to Sulawesi biogeography. The second is a phylogenetic study of crotaphytid lizards, with an emphasis on the roles of introgressive hybridization and incomplete lineage sorting. Finally, he is investigating the history of high-altitude adaptation in hummingbirds, which involves species-level phylogenetics, analysis of the molecular evolution of hummingbird globin genes, and respiratory physiological studies across altitudinal gradients in the Andes and North America. See Jim's Research page for details.
Rollover - Jim checks a Sulawesi King Cobra for a heartbeat (just a baby - only 9 feet, 2 inches!)
Alison's research interests include both systematics and behavioral ecology of reptiles and amphibians. Her current research uses statistical phylogenetics to examine the role that color pattern polymorphism plays in the evolutionary dynamics of snake mimicry systems, focusing on strikingly polymorphic snakes in the genus Sonora from the southwestern US and Mexico. Her dissertation research with Barry Sinervo at UC Santa Cruz examined the kin dynamics and adaptive benefits of social aggregation in the Desert Night Lizard (Xantusia vigilis). Using field, molecular, and experimental approaches, she tested tested predictions about the origin and stability of social groups in vertebrates and quantified the fitness effects of facultative sociality and the physiological mechanism driving these benefits. See Alison's webpage for more information on her past and present research.
Rollover - Alison takes a closer look at a midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans) while performing fieldwork in France
Tom's research focus is on geographic variation and speciation in reptiles and amphibians of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. He completed a Master’s degree at Louisiana State University where he examined the systematics and historical biogeography of the Western Lyresnake (Trimorphodon biscutatus) complex. For his Ph.D., he is studying divergence population genetics and isolating barriers in the Ensatina eschscholtzii complex.
Rollover - Tommy D distracted from his Ensatina studies by a couple of boring old mountain kingsnakes
Jon’s primary research interests revolve around systematics, biogeography, and conservation of reptiles and amphibians. Presently, his research focuses on endangered turtles in Asia, using molecular methods to identify cryptic species and phylogeographic patterns. A major objective of this work is to facilitate the conservation of these organisms, and to determine the impact of natural/artificial hybridization and human activity (i.e. pet and food trade). Current projects underway are: 1) Systematics of the genus Mauremys, an endangered and wide-ranging group of turtles that is found disjunctly in Europe and eastern Asia, and 2) Investigation of hybridization in Geoemydid turtles.
Jon currently is in China (late August 2008 until November 2009) on a Fullbright Fellowship!
Matt is broadly interested in the evolutionary genetics of reptiles and amphibians. His dissertation focuses on the very cool gecko complex, Heteronotia binoei, which includes parthenogenetic lineages. A significant portion of his research involves a detailed analysis of large, tandem duplications in the mitochondrial genomes of these parthenogens. These duplications are interesting because they include pseudogenes, which are quite rare in vertebrate mitochondrial genomes. Matt also is delineating species boundaries in the H. binoei complex. There are several chromosomal forms scattered across the arid region of Australia, and he is using a multi-locus approach to infer their systematic relationships. For more info, check out his webpage.
Rollover - Checkin' out a Python sebae during fieldwork in Ghana
Shobi's research interests are primarily in the realm of conservation genetics. For her research, she is combining molecular systematics, evolutionary biogeography, and population genetics to identify the underlying processes affecting faunal assemblage in Indonesia, with an eye toward using that information to guide conservation policies. Shobi is focusing her current studies on several species of flying lizards (genus Draco) that occur on the Mentawai Archipelago and on adjacent Sumatra, but plans to expand her study system in the future to include other taxa and areas of Indonesia as well.
Dan is interested in the phylogeography of reptiles and amphibians in southern Africa. More specifically, he isinterested in how historical events and biogeographic barriers have affected the current spatial distribution of genes in areas poorly studied in this context. He plans to utilize rapidly evolving protein-coding nuclear markers to reconstruct phylogenies and conduct population clustering analyses to answer these types of questions. Dan's M.S. work focused on the phylogeography of two skink species distributed across Namibia and South Africa, and revealed the effects of specific life history characteristics (rupiculous vs. generalist species) on gene flow.
For his Msaster's work in Bryan Jennings' lab at Humboldt State University, Sean has been studying population differentiation of Black Salamanders (Aneides flavipunctatus), a complex with many distinct geographic morphs. Sean has been focusing on a contact zone among three morphs in Mendocino County, California. In this area, the landscape is complex and rugged, containing many steep mountain ridges and fast flowing rivers with an east/west transition between redwood forest and oak/pine woodland. This tremendous habitat heterogeneity potentially creates barriers to gene flow between A. flavipunctatus populations. Sean's approach to this problem has been to use genomic data and coalescent population genetic methods to quantify recent gene flow between populations, timing of population divergence, and contemporary and ancestral effective population sizes, with the ultimate aim of dissecting patterns of speciation.
Guin is interested in (a) how spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity act to maintain genetic and phenotypic variation in natural systems, (b) estimating historical and contemporary demographics, and (c) detecting variable/cyclic selection. She currently is investigating an Asian frog species complex (Fejervarya limnocharis) using a multi-locus approach to understand patterns of gene flow and dispersal. Further, as there are thousands of preserved museum specimens in collections, she is examining phenotypic changes through time and across space to gain insight into the evolutionary processes maintaining polymorphism and promoting diversification. For more information, check out Guin's webpage.
Brian is a postgraduate researcher and resident DNA sequencing machine. When he is not collecting mountains of sequence data in support of Jim's projects, he leads an independent research project investigating the phylogeography of Elgaria coerulea. His email address is: lavinbr at yahoo.com.
Dr. Jackson is seen here examining a snake that mysteriously appeared in his carry-on luggage on a return trip from SE Asia. I believe he is consulting with Jim McGuire regarding proper identification of the specimen.
