|
|
Eric Sanford, Assistant Professor of Evolution and Ecology Graduate Students:
I have recently completed my second year in the Graduate Group in Ecology. I am interested in the intersection of community and evolutionary ecology, especially as applies to the causes of variation within a species over its range, the scale-dependence of organism interactions, and the maintenance and importance of biodiversity. Through my past work at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, I have come to view marine biological introductions as potentially powerful “natural experiments” through which I might attack basic questions of interest. For example, differences in morphology, growth, and reproduction have been observed in introduced populations of various species as compared to native populations, often corresponding to differing roles within introduced and native communities. Such variation could result from plastic response to environmental gradients, selection on a gene pool constrained by founder effects, or some combination of these forces. Understanding why introduced species vary across their global range aids a more general understanding of the mechanisms behind range limitations and expansions. I have been pursuing these questions using the Atlantic oyster drill (Urosalpinx cinerea) as a study system. This predatory snail has a native range running from Nova Scotia to southeastern Florida, and has been introduced into estuaries in the Pacific Northwest and in Northern/Central California. I am studying populations spanning U. cinerea’s range on both coasts, evaluating them for differences in their response to a suite of both physical and biological environmental characteristics.
I’ve recently completed my first year of graduate studies in the Population Biology Graduate Group. I’m most interested in evolutionary aspects of species’ range limits, marine phylogeography, and the dynamics of contemporary evolutionary change. My research will focus on local adaptation and within-species geographic variation, and what these phenomena can tell us about varying selection pressures acting across species’ ranges. I’m also interested in anthropogenic change as a source of selective pressure on natural populations, whether through the effects of climate change or over-harvesting. My Master’s research at the University of Maine focused on the population genetic structure and phylogeography of two rare species of freshwater mussels. From this work, I developed an appreciation for the ways that population genetic tools can help us to understand some of the ecological factors (migration, effective population size) that underlie evolutionary dynamics. I have not yet settled on a particular taxonomic group or project for my doctoral research, but current favorites include barnacles, copepods and limpets.
Evelyne Sui Ling Kuo I have recently completed my first year of studies in the Graduate Group in Ecology. Like others in my lab, I am intrigued by questions at the intersection of community ecology and evolutionary biology. I am currently interested in studying the interplay of biotic and abiotic factors in affecting local adaptation in marine intertidal invertebrates, and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of such adaptations on species interactions and community dynamics. In terms of abiotic factors, I am hoping to understand how varying environmental conditions across a latitudinal gradient (think Alaska to California!) may impose selection on different adaptive traits in spatially separated populations of the same species spanning that range. In terms of biotic factors, I would like to investigate how gene flow may differ for marine invertebrates with different larval dispersal strategies (e.g. broadcast spawning, brooding), and how it may affect organisms’ abilities to adapt to local selective pressures. Furthermore, if different species within a community are locally adapted at differing spatial scales, I would like to examine whether the result of local adaptation may cascade up to the community level, and change the outcomes of species interactions (e.g. predation, competition and facilitation) in communities at different geographical locations.
|
Top