The following individuals were graduate students, postdocs, or visiting scholars in our lab within the past decade. These are some of their representative research interests.

David Althoff

How are different kinds of "traits" -- molecular, morphological, behavioral -- of interacting species organized across large geographic scales?

Specific example: Phylogeography and geographic structure of interacting insects and their parasitoids. Comparative geographic studies of molecular, morphological, and behavioral traits in interacting pairs of Greya moth and Agathis wasp species across the northern Rockies.

Currently a Research Associate at Syracuse University

Paulette Bierzychudek (Chair of Biology at Lewis and Clark College, Portand, Oregon)

Spent the 2002-2003 year in our laboratory on sabbatical leave from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where she is Chair of Biology. She devoted the year to working on major issues in conservation biology and on her long-term datasets on the dynamics of natural selection on plant populations.

Ryan Calsbeek

Large-scale comparative phylogeographic structure of animals and plants in California and comparative rates of molecular diversfication.

Specific example: Analysis of the major phylogeographic breaks found in plants, vertebrates, and insects along the Coast Ranges of California.

Currently on the faculty at Dartmouth College

Bradley Cunningham

What is the geographic scale of local adaptation in phytophagous insects that are both herbivores and pollinators of their host plants?

Specific example: Analysis of ability of Greya moths to differentiate among populations of Lithophragma plants in the northern Rockies.

Currently with an environmental consulting firm in Nevada

Niklas Janz

How does plant polyploidy affect host shifts in phytophagous insects and diversification of plant/insect interactions?

Specific example: Studies of how insect colonization of a novel plant genus is shaped by polyploidy within some of the plant populations.

Currently at the University of Stockholm

How has repeated evolution of polyploidy within plants shaped the genetic structure of plant species and diversification in plant/pollinator interactions?

Specific example: Molecular and ecological analysis of how autopolyploids of different origin in Heuchera grossulariifolia have evolved different population structures and relationships with different pollinator taxa.

Currently at Washington Fish and Game, in charge of efforts to develop conservation efforts on private lands in eastern Washington

Scott Nuismer

How is coevolution shaped by selection mosaics, coevolutionary hotspots, gene flow, and the genetic structure of interacting species?

Specific examples: Mathematical models of how coevolutionary hotspots and gene flow shape mutualistic and antagonistic interactions. Empirical studies of how the genetic structure of populations, including the evolution of polyploidy, affects attack by insect with different feeding strategies.

Currently on the faculty at tthe University of Idaho

Kari Segraves

How do multiple origins of polyploidy affect diversification of plant traits and interactions with pollinators?

Specific example: Studies of the effects of polyploidy on the evolution of floral morphology and interactions with pollinator guilds within natural populations of Heuchera grossulariifolia.

Currently on the faculty at Syracuse University

Jason Hoeksema

What is the geographic scale at which coevolving species show evidence of local adaptation, and what is the structure of selection mosaics?

Specific example: Studies of selection mosaics between pines and mycorrhizal fungi over large geographic scales, spanning Alaska to Baja California.

Currently on the faculty at University of Mississippi

Catherine Fernandez

Are cryptic species embedded within widespread species?

How do interactions between species diversify across ecosytems?

Specific example: Studies of geographic differences in the ecological outcome of interactions between Greya moths and Lithophragma plants, and studies of molecular differentiation among populations of Greya and Grimmea species.

Currently at BD Biosciences

The following individuals were undergraduate students in our lab at UCSC in recent years. Most have been part of the lab's formal undergraduate internship program, and most have been funded in part through NSF's Research Experience for Undergraduates Program.

Phil Hoos: A graduate of UCSC, recently completed field work in Nicaragua and is currently at Moss Landing Marine Labs

David Hembry: A graduate of Harvard University, followed by a fellowship at the Institute of Ecology in Kyoto, Japan, and now a graduate student at UC Berkeley.

Ben Wendel: A graduate of Haverford College, currently at the University of Washington

Noelle German: A graduate of UCSC, now in nursing.

Sarah Dwiggins: A graduate of UCSC, now in the biotech industry.

Bridget Piculell: A graduate of UCSC, followed by work as a research technician for Walt Koenig, and then a degree program in scientific illustraiton. Now applying to graduate school.