The G-matrix Online

Stevan Arnold, Oregon State University (Lab Website)

The focus of research in my laboratory is on evolutionary processes and pattern in natural populations. I work mainly on snakes and salamanders.

Nick Barton, Institute of Science and Technology Austria (Lab Website)

My research centres on understanding the evolution of traits which depend on interactions between large numbers of genes. Such interactions determine the way populations adapt in response to natural and artificial selection, and also the way they diverge to form separate species. The research involves both theoretical work on polygenic variation, and field studies of hybrid zones.

Mark Blows, University of Queensland (Lab Website)

My research interests are in evolutionary quantitative genetics. My primary research focus is on the evolution of mate recognition in the Drosophila serrata species complex. I use a combination of techniques from experimental evolution, quantitative genetics and genomics to determine how mate recognition evolves under natural and sexual selection. More generally, I am interested in how genetic variances and covariances change under selection and different environmental conditions, and how multivariate quantitative genetics can be used to predict the direction of evolutionary responses in laboratory and field populations.

Reinhard Bürger, University of Vienna (Lab Website)

My research area is mathematical population genetics. Population genetics is concerned with the study of the genetic composition of populations. This composition may be changed by segregation, selection, mutation, recombination, mating structure, migration, and other genetic, ecological, and evolutionary factors. Therefore, in population genetics these mechanisms and their interactions and evolutionary consequences are investigated. It provides the basis for understanding the evolutionary processes that have led to the diversity of life we encounter and admire. Mathematical models have played a central role in population genetics since its beginning in the early twentieth century. They are based on Mendel's laws and often seek to predict the between-generation change in gene frequencies or, more generally, in the distribution of trait values within a population that is subject to some of the above mentioned evolutionary forces. Other branches of population genetics are concerned with inferences from available genetic data of modern populations about evolutionary processes in the past.

James Cheverud, Washington University (Lab Website)

My laboratory is currently pursuing work with over 13 major projects that mostly concern quantitative genetics and morphology. The research in quantitative genetics concerns the development and genetic constraints imposed on the rate and direction of evolution by heritable variation patterns and the evolution of genetic variation patterns themselves.

Charles Goodnight, University of Vermont (Lab Website)

I study genetic differentiation and evolution in structured populations. My research combines theoretical and experimental approaches to study the effects of selection among individuals, populations and communities. One of my major areas of interest is how certain types of genetic variation, such as epistatic interactions among loci, can contribute to a response to selection in a subdivided population even though they cannot contribute to a response to selection in a large panmictic population.

Thomas Hansen, University of Oslo (Lab Website)

I am a theoretical evolutionary biologist who uses mathematical modeling as my chief research tool. I have background and interests in mathematical and statistical modeling within a wide range of topics including population genetics, population dynamics, and phylogenetic analysis. Most of my current research is focused at the interface between evolutionary genetics and trait adaptation.

Joachim Hermisson, University of Vienna (Lab Website)

Joachim's work is on theoretical population genetics where he combines molecular and phenotypic approaches. He is particularly interested in the evolutionary conditions for adaptation and speciation. Recent projects range from the evolution of assortative mating under frequency-dependent disruptive selection to the study of selective sweeps and the footprint of selection in molecular adaptation. A special research focus is on the effects of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions on genetic variation and the adaptive process (epistatis and evolvability) and on the evolution of the genotype-phenotype map (robustness, canalization, and modularity).

David Houle, Florida State University (Lab Website)

In my lab, we use Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, as an experimental organism. Flies are wonderful for evolutionary studies because they have interesting and complex adaptations and behaviors, yet are easily and rapidly reared. Our current experimental projects include studies of evolution of wing shape in the genus Drosophila, the evolution of the ability to evolve, and adaptation under natural and sexual selection. I also do theoretical work, which has recently included work on good genes mechanisms in sexual selection, the evolution of variance-covariance matrices, the detection of evolutionary constraints, and the use of fluctuating asymmetry as an indicator of developmental stability.

Adam Jones, Texas A&M University (Lab Website)

We use simulation-based approaches to study theory related to quantitative genetics, genetic architecture, natural selection, and sexual selection. Our empirical work focuses mainly on sexual selection in pipefishes and seahorses characterized by male pregnancy.

Russell Lande, Imperial College (Lab Website)

Russell Lande was the single most influential figure in the development of modern quantitative genetics theory during the 1970s and 1980s. His theoretical studies form the basis of most current work in evolutionary quantitative genetics. His current work broadly addresses evolutionary and ecological theory as well as conservation biology.

Michael Lynch, Indiana University (Lab Website)

Our research is focused on mechanisms of evolution at the gene, genomic, cellular, and phenotypic levels, with special attention being given to the roles of mutation, random genetic drift, and recombination. For these purposes, we are currently utilizing several model systems, the microcrustacean Daphnia, the nematode Caenorhabditis, the ciliate Paramecium, and the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas. In addition, comparative analyses of completely sequenced genomes are being performed to shed light on issues concerning the origins of genomic and gene-structural complexity. Most of our empirical work is integrated with the development and use of mathematical theory in an effort to develop a formal understanding of the constraints on the evolutionary process. Evolution is a population-level process, and the underlying philosophy of our research is that "nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of population genetics." Michael Lynch is a coauthor (with Bruce Walsh) of an excellent book on quantitative genetics entitled Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits.

Trudy Mackay, North Carolina State University (Lab Website)

Research in the Mackay lab focuses on understanding the genetic and environmental factors affecting variation in quantitative traits – traits for which phenotypic variation is continuously distributed in natural populations, with population variation often approximating a statistical normal distribution on an appropriate scale. The continuous variation arises from genetic complexity and environmental sensitivity. Quantitative genetic variation is the substrate for phenotypic evolution in natural populations and for selective breeding of domestic crop and animal species, and underlies susceptibility to common complex diseases and behavioral disorders in humans, as well as responses to pharmacological therapies. Our goal for understanding the genetic architecture of any quantitative trait is to peer within the black bell curve to elucidate the rules for translating genetic variation among individuals to phenotypic variation for the trait, at the level of primary variation in DNA sequence and intermediate phenotypes of transcript, protein and metabolite abundance, and in a range of relevant environments.

Patrick Phillips, University of Oregon (Lab Website)

Research in the Phillips Lab focuses on understanding the genotype-phenotype map: how genetic information contained within DNA is translated into the whole organism that interacts in the real world. We use the model nematode C. elegans and its relatives to pursue the molecular genetics of this map for traits such as body size, reproductive success, sexual interactions, longevity, and the behavioral response temperature and chemicals.

Scott Steppan, Florida State University (Lab Website)

My fundamental goal is to understand the evolutionary processes that promote biological diversity. My research attempts to bridge the micro- and macroevolutionary scales and apply process based models to understand and explain large-scale patterns. To address this long term goal, my research program involves studying highly diversified groups of mammals at a range of hierarchical levels. Currently, my focus is on molecular phylogenetics and quantitative genetics. The techniques include phylogenetic analyses of morphological and DNA sequence data, comparative analyses of multivariate patterns of covariation, developing the comparative tools to test these multivariate patterns, analysis of geographic variation, and alpha level systematics of living and fossil material.

Michael Turelli, University of California-Davis (Lab Website)

Michael Turelli is a theoretical evolutionary biologist with interests in population and quantitative genetics, speciation, and population biology of Drosophila, especially Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility.

Günter Wagner, Yale University (Lab Website)

The research interests pursued in the Wagner lab can be roughly divided in two groups: (1) empirical work that relates to the developmental evolution of morphological characters and (2) conceptual and mathematical work on the theory of evolution. The common denominator of these two directions is the evolution of complex characters. Morphological characters are not the only complex characters worth considering but they are the paradigm of and the best understood examples of complex characters. Currently the most promising empirical approach to the evolution of complex characters is to study the genes that influence their development (e.g., the evolution of Hox genes) as well as to study the evolution of the developmental process itself. The goal is to obtain a mechanistic understanding of issues like "What is Homology", and "How did new characters arise in evolution (Novelty)".

Bruce Walsh, University of Arizona (Lab Website)

Bruce Walsh specializes in population and quantitative genetics theory as well as statistical genetics. Along with Michael Lynch, he authored an excellent book on quantitative genetics entitled Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits.

Michael Whitlock, University of British Columbia (Lab Website)

My research focuses on evolution in structured populations: What are the forces which control the nature and distribution of genotypes in subdivided populations and how does this affect the outcome of other evolutionary processes? These questions and others are addressed in a variety of ways, from theoretical analyses to experimental lab model systems. Most models of population structure assume uniform populations at equilibrium, which is most unlike most natural populations. My models have included the effects of extinctions, colonizations, population fission events, unequal population sizes, variable migration rates, and other realistic modifications of the theory. We examine the effects of popualtion structure on a wide variety of evolutionary patterns and processes, such as genetic load, inbreeding depression, rates of adaptation, etc.