Research
Research in the Department of Biology spans the entire breadth of biology: from ecology and evolution to molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Our research is supported by a wide array of funding sources, including NIH, NSF and the Welch Foundation.
Many departmental faculty members actively participate in campus-wide interdepartmental graduate and research programs, including Genetics, Neuroscience, Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences, and the newly formed faculty of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavioral Biology.
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Cryptic speciation; evolution of reproductive isolation; body size evolution; species packing and community assembly; range determinants; comparative physiological ecology; integrative evolutionary ecology
Blackmon Profile | Blackmon Lab page
Evolutionary genetics and genomics using both theoretical and empirical approaches. Empirical methods used include bioinformatics, phylogenetics, quantitative genetics.
Criscione Profile | Criscione Lab Website
Ecology, evolution, and genetics of parasites
Delmore Profile | Delmore Lab Webpage
Hybridization, speciation, and behavioral genomics
Fitzpatrick Profile | Fitzpatrick Lab Webpage
Trait evolution in animals, mathematical modeling of evolution, behavioral ecology, social and sexual selection, non-invasive field techniques
Comparative endocrinology of reproduction and thyroid function in fish, amphibians, and reptiles
Molecular mechanisms of C. difficile pathogenesis and exosporium-assembly of C. difficile spores
Smotherman Profile | Smotherman Lab Webpage
Neurobiology of animal communication: sensory-motor integration
Adaptive coloration of marine invertebrates; distribution, behavior, and classification of eastern Pacific Decapoda Crustacea