Thompson Lab Homepage


The Thompson Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz


	Laboratory Members

	Catherine C. Fernandez Samantha Forde Jason D. Hoeksema Kate Horjus Christopher Schwind

	Laboratory Coordinator and Research Associate Catherine C. Fernandez fernandez@biology.ucsc.edu My background is in evolutionary genetics. I've always been interested in the various processes that cause divergence among populations of organisms, and thereby drive the evolution of species diversity. My dissertation work at the University of Chicago explored the evolution of cryptic reproductive isolation between closely related species of Drosophila. Cryptic reproductive isolation occurs when members of two different species mate with one another, but some problem occurs before eggs are fertilized. Reproductive barriers in this category may play an important role in speciation, but have been studied relatively infrequently. I documented numerous mechanisms that act simultaneously within a female to limit fertilization by sperm from males of a different species. I also explored the mechanisms that male Drosophila have evolved to assure that their sperm can compete against sperm from another male within the reproductive tract of a single female. Click here for a partial list of my publications. In the Thompson lab, I am continuing to pursue my interest in the processes that cause evolutionary diversification. Now, instead of focusing on evolution that is driven by interactions between males and females as they mate, we explore evolution that is driven by interactions between members of different species, such as plants and their pollinators.

	Research Associates Samantha Forde forde@biology.ucsc.edu http://people.ucsc.edu/~forde/ Research Interests I am interested in answering questions about the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that structure communities. I use mathematical models, laboratory model systems, and field experiments to understand how communities are structured and under what conditions certain processes, such as species interactions or environmental variability, are important to community dynamics. For example, I have used both modeling and experiments to investigate how variability in immigration into a community influences direct and indirect species interactions, as well as community structure and diversity. I am also testing questions about the ecological and evolutionary processes that maintain the coexistence of competitors and how the interplay of spatial variability and dispersal influence coevolution and diversification of hosts and parasitoids. Education PhD. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. University of California Santa Cruz. 2002. Advisor: Peter Raimondi B.A. Aquatic Biology. University of California Santa Barbara. 1994. Click here for a list of publications. Click here to view Samantha Forde's website. Jason D. Hoeksema jason.hoeksema@gmail.com http://olemiss.edu/depts/biology/people/faculty/hoeksema/index.php Broadly, my research goal is to understand the relative importance of species interactions, such as mutualism, parasitism, and competition, for the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of diverse biological communities. I use manipulative field and laboratory experiments in communities of ectomycorrhizal fungi and their coniferous host plants to pursue this goal, along with a variety of theoretical approaches to develop explicit hypotheses as inspiration for this empirical work. My empirical research centers on the plants and mycorrhizal fungi of Pacific coastal pine forests, and includes both field and laboratory components.

	Graduate Students Kate Horjus horjus@biology.ucsc.edu I am interested in how local networks of interacting species are influenced by the ecological context in which they occur and the phylogenetic context in which they have evolved. My thesis work examines the ecology and evolution of interactions between diversifying lineages of the plant genus Lithophragma and the moth genus Greya in the California Coast Ranges. Using field, greenhouse, and laboratory work, I am addressing how local interactions between moths and plants differ among sites, the driving forces behind these differences, and the phylogeograpic history of the species across the California Coast Ranges.

	Undergraduate Students Christopher Schwind is part of the Undergraduate Research Internship Program in the Thompson Lab. He is assisting in our lab's current efforts to understand the extent of geographic covariation in the traits that may be important to the interaction between Greya and Lithophragma, and the consequences of that variation on the ecological outcomes of the interaction (mutualism, commensalism, or antagonism). He is working with moths and plants from field sites that range from Eastern Washington to Southern California.