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Research in my lab seeks to understand how biological diversity is generated using computational approaches to evolutionary genetics. We investigate empirical systems by identifying the limits of evolutionary lineages, in order to evaluate the relative contributions of evolutionary processes and infer the ecological and environmental forces that have contributed to the formation of population genetic structure. Our goal is to generate realistic models of the historical demography and quantify the probability of these models given the genomic data that we collect. This evaluation provides a context for understanding how the evolutionary forces that act within or between populations (e.g., selection, drift, and gene flow) act to produce macro-evolutionary patterns.
Characterization of the Sarracenia alata microbiota. This project, supported by the Louisiana Board of Regents, seeks to characterize the microbial community associated with the Pale Pitcher Plant using an environmental metagenomics approach. We are motivated to identify the core members of the microbial community that inhabits the pitcher fluid. Using next-generation sequencing and community fingerprinting approaches, we have demonstrated (i) that the microbial community that inhabits the pitchers is dramatically different than that from the surrounding environment (ii) that microbial diversity increases throughout the growning seasons, and (iii) that the microbial communities in different pitchers become more similar as the season progresses. We are currently using next-generation sequencing to characterize the microbiome of pitchers from additional populations in order to incorporate a spatial axis to our investigation.
Novel approaches to the identification of evolutionary lineages. This project, supported by NSF (DEB-0918212), seeks to develop method for the delimitation of evolutionary lineages. This approach, which uses information theory to evaluate phylogenetic models of lineage composition, enables biologist to identify distinct evolutionary lineages shortly after their formation. We are currently developing and testing software, and collecting sequence data from two empirical systems — western Plethodon salamanders and the willow Salix melanopsis. These systems have been the subject of previous phylogeographic investigations and used to explore the utility of novel methods.
Developing bioinformatics tools for the application of next-generation sequencing data to phylogeography. This project, supported by NSF (DEB-0956069), aims to explore the application of next-generation sequencing data to empirical systems. Along with co-PI Brumfield, we will proceed on two fronts. First, one of our graduate students (S. Hird) will develop software for post-run bioinformatics processing. Her software will be tested on next-generation sequence data collected to augment ongoing investigations.