Personal Research Interests

Examination of relationships among ecological and molecular variables at the population level; demographic-life history characteristics of natural populations; study of spatial variation in demographic and genetic characteristics of vertebrate populations; nutritional, physiological, and genetic components of individual fitness; habitat-population relationships; application of evolutionary theories and innovative molecular genetic markers to applied population ecological and conservation research.

General Research Areas

• Mating systems and variance in male and female reproductive success affect levels and apportionment of genetic diversity and population recruitment

• Life history evolution of long-lived poikilothermic vertebrates

• Landscape genetics of vertebrates in terrestrial and aquatic environments

• Intra-specific and comparative phylogeography of waterfowl and native Great Lakes fishes

• Development and application of non-invasive DNA sampling methods for estimation of population parameters

• Genealogical basis of disease transmission in heterogeneous landscapes

• Impacts of management actions and exploitation on levels of gene diversity within and among populations

Examples of past and current research projects

 

Graduate Student Research

Graduate students in my laboratory conduct their research either on topics related to ongoing grants (examples below) or on independent projects of mutual interest that they develop. Students are supported either on research assistantship through my grants and/or through teaching assistants. Examples of student thesis projects can be found on the Molecular Ecology Lab web page.