Since the dawn of the field, evolutionary biologists have sought to understand the forces that generated earth’s biodiversity. Understanding the forces and dynamics governing the evolution of life on earth allows us to accurately reconstruct and learn from evolutionary history (e.g., models of DNA sequence evolution), and even to predict the path of evolution as it continues to play out around us in real time. My research program follows this tradition, striving to understand the evolutionary forces governing global biodiversity accumulation by studying wild bird populations. Specifically, I target interesting groups of closely related bird lineages (often working at the interface of population genetic and phylogenetic approaches) whose patterns of relatedness are likely to reveal novel or unexpected insights into how evolution works under natural conditions. Overall, most of my active research falls into one of three major themes, outlined below.
How does complex geography mediate the speciation process across the globe?
Integrating phylogenetic and population genetic approaches to accurately reconstruct complex evolutionary histories.
How are natural tension zones maintained on evolutionary timescales?
Studying secondary contact to catch speciation ‘in the act’ and study the evolution of reproductive isolation under natural conditions.
What can human translocations reveal about how natural populations colonize and establish in novel localities?
Studying human-mediated introductions as natural experiments that reveal the real-time dynamics of population founding and colonization.