The Thompson Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz

 
   
 
 
This is a glimpse at one of the largest temperate-zone wilderness areas remaining worldwide. Plants along this drainage of the Salmon River in northern Idaho include sympatric diploid and tetraploid populations that differ in their susceptibilty to specialist herbivores and their attraction to pollinators. The insect populations are similarly differentiated, with sympatric populations of some insect species adapted to different plant species. Nearby river drainages with the same plant and insect species have yet different genetic structures. The result is a complex geographic mosaic of evolving interspecific interactions over short distances.
Research approaches in the Thompson laboratory include:

ecological studies in the field
molecular and organismal work in the laboratory,
and experiments in the greenhouse.


Please visit our downloadable images page for high-quality versions of some useful images.

The Thompson Lab also helps to coordinate the
UCSC Molecular Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics (MEEG) Core Facility.
This facility includes a room dedicated to DNA preparation, computer facilities for analysis of sequence and fragment data, two ABI 3100 Genetic Analyzers, a FACSCalibur flow cytometer, and robotics for liquid handling of DNA samples.


Electrophoresis in the MEEG DNA prep room

Vern Ares at the MEEG facility's BD FacsCalibur Flow Cytometer

Checking the capillaries in the ABI 3100 Fragment Analyzer
Lab Photos