Research Themes in EEB

Evolutionary biology; behavioral ecology; developmental plasticity in evolution of morphology and behavior; evolution of life histories; sexual selection; functional and physiological ecology.

Evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics & computational biology, plant evolution, speciation & diversity, polyploidy & hybridization, chromosomal evolution.

Evolution and ecology of mutualisms; plant ­insect interactions, especially obligate relationships.

Genetics and evolution of colonizing populations, Evolutionary ecology of introduced plants, Molecular basis of adaptation, Inbreeding and mating system evolution, Hybridization and sources of genetic variation in small populations, Influence of adaptation on demography.

Behavioral ecology, biology of animal group living (sociobiology), ecology and evolution of collective organisation, complex systems, theoretical biology, self-organization in biology.

Evolutionary ecology, mechanisms of species coexistence at range margins, link between micro and macroevolutionary processes, species diversification, constraints to adaptive evolution, evolution of behavior. 

Human evolutionary genomics, mammals ecological genomics, genomic adaptation, ancient epidemics

Plant functional and physiological ecology; macroecology and biogeography; allometry and biological scaling; the evolution of form and function in biology.

Interplay of ecological and evolutionary processes. Mathematical modeling and applications to the evolution of behavioral and life-history traits.

Genome evolution and genomics of microbial eukaryotes. 

Evolutionary biology, theoretical biology, mathematical biology, evolutionary capacitors, evolution of evolvability, yeast prions, heat shock protein, population genetics, bioinformatics, transcriptional regulators.

Disease ecology, evolutionary ecology, host-parasite interactions, birds, genomic and epigenomic responses of animals to emerging disease, community ecology.

Theoretical population biology; evolution of cooperation, evolution of sex, evolutionary transitions in complexity, evolution and development of multicellularity and sex in Volvocalean green algae, philosophy of biology.

Behavioral ecology; function and evolution of learning; plant­-insect interactions.

Phenotypic plasticity, evolutionary biology, endocrinology, life history, microbiome, development, physiology, maternal effects, mammals.

Ichthyology, conservation of freshwater habitats. Dr. Reinthal is the curator of the department collections

Biogeochemical ecology: how climate interacts with plant physiology, demography, and ecological processes to influence or control biogeochemical cycling from local to global scales.

Population and quantitative genetics; genome evolution; macroevolution.

Using an integrative phylogenetic approach to address general conceptual questions in evolutionary biology and ecology.  The theory and methods of phylogenetics.  The phylogeny, evolution and ecology of reptiles and amphibians.

Molecular evolution of viruses and bacteria.  Dr. Worobey is the Department Head.