I am broadly interested in how populations respond to novel environments, both from the perspective of individuals expressing altered morphology and behavior (phenotypic plasticity), as well as populations evolving over successive generations. Interactions between developmental and evolutionary responses have important consequences for the ways in which populations adapt to new challenges.

For over a century evolutionary biologists have debated whether and how phenotypic plasticity might influence the nature of adaptive evolution.  The threespine stickleback radiation is exceptional in that modern marine populations represent the ancestral state of the many derived, freshwater forms found throughout the northern latitudes. Thus, plasticity in the ancestral, marine population can be directly evaluated and compared to that of the descendent, freshwater populations in order to resolve open questions about how plasticity influences evolutionary outcomes.

Much of my research focuses on stickleback populations in south-central Alaska.  The primary questions our lab seeks to answer are 1) How did plasticity influence the repeated evolution of benthic and limnetic ecotypes that occur in shallow and deep lakes, respectively, and 2) How might behavioral plasticity, including learning, allow stickleback to cope with the introduction of novel predators? 

I’m also privileged to work with a number of collaborators on a variety of additional projects. Click the link below to read about our upcoming symposium at SICB 2012.