Yasir Ahmed is host to Dr. Kevin Oh, Postdoc Associate in the 
Shaw Lab at Cornell University.  He is presenting a talk titled, “Rapid evolutionary divergence via sexual selection: from process to pattern in a Hawaiian species radiation.”   In his own words, this is what Dr. Oh says of his research:

“The overarching theme of my research is understanding the role of dynamic natural and sexual selection in the evolution and maintenance of phenotypic diversity. In particular, I investigate (1) the contributions of social, genetic, and demographic contingencies to variable and context-dependent patterns of selection on secondary sexual morphologies and behaviors within populations, and (2) the consequences of such variation to intraspecific divergence between populations. To this end, my work integrates long-term field studies, molecular techniques, quantitative genetics analysis, and behavioral experiments in both wild and laboratory-reared vertebrate and invertebrate populations.”

Dr. Jim Fry will be hosting Dr. Walter Eanes’ visit on Friday, November 22.  Dr. Eanes is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University.  He is presenting a talk titled, “Selection on central metabolism in Drosophila melanogaster.”

Dr. Eanes received his Bachelors degree from Cornell University, a Masters degree in Marine Science from the College of William and Mary and his Ph.D. from the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook. He is a member of the graduate program in Ecology and Evolution and the graduate program in Genetics at Stony Brook and is a former member of the GENETICS and EVOLUTION Editorial Boards. For more information on Dr. Walter Eanes’ research, please visit his website.

Dr. John Jaenike will be hosting Dr. David Duneau’s visit on Friday, November 15.  Dr. Duneau is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University.  He is presenting a talk titled, “Host sexual dimorphism and its consequences on parasite evolution.”

Dr. Duneau did his undergraduate studies in France at the University of Montpellier where he received his master degree in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology in 2006. He then did his PhD at the University of Basel (Switzerland) under the supervision of Dieter Ebert.

Dr. Vince Martinson, a post-doc in the Jaenike Lab, is presenting an EEB seminar entitled “The gut microbiota of bees and wild drosophilids.” Vince completed his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona under Nancy Moran, where his research centered on the gut bacteria of honey bees.

Dr. James Fry will be hosting Dr. Timothy Connallon’s visit on Friday, November 1.  Dr. Connallon is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell University.  He is presenting a talk titled, “Population genetics of adaptation in species with separate sexes.”

Dr. Connallon completed his Ph.D. in the lab of Dr. Lacey Knowles at the University of Michigan, where he studied the evolutionary consequences of X-linked inheritance and sex-specific natural and sexual selection in fruit flies.  Since joining the Clark lab at Cornell in September 2009, Tim has been working to develop theoretical models of adaptation on the X and Y-chromosomes, and autosomes, with the specific goal of generating predictions to be tested using comparative genomics and gene expression data.

Dr. Daven Presgraves is host to Dr. Howard Rundle, Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa. He is presenting a talk titled, “Sexual selection, condition-dependence and adaptation (in Drosophila).” Please see below for information on his research:

“While I am interested in diverse topics in evolutionary ecology, the main focus of research in my lab currently addresses how natural and sexual selection interact during adaptation, and how both processes contribute to phenotypic divergence and speciation. Addressing such questions requires a comprehensive understanding of how sexual selection operates within populations and how it varies in different environments (e.g., social, geographical, natural). Our approach is primarily empirical and utilizes experimental evolution and behavioral assays to conduct manipulative, direct tests of various key evolutionary hypotheses. Because the majority of sexual selection theory has quantitative genetic foundations, much of our work is also conducted within a quantitative genetic framework.”

Yasir Ahmed is hosting Dr. Scott Taylor’s visit this Friday.  A Cornell Center for Comparative and Population Genomics Fellow, Dr. Taylor has been an avid birder since childhood.  He received his B.S. in wildlife biology from the University of Guelph and his Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. At Queen’s he studied the evolutionary genetics of blue-footed and Peruvian boobies and spent a few months in Peru and Chile living on the Guano Islands.

During his summers as an undergrad, Scott worked as a naturalist at Rondeau, a provincial park in Ontario, and he returned there as the natural heritage education specialist before starting his postdoc at Cornell’s Laboratory of Ornithology. Rondeau is a major migration stopover on the north side of Lake Erie, and Scott continues to lead beginner and advanced bird hikes there.

Dr. Minckley is hosting Dr. Shannon Hedtke, Research Associate in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University.  She is presenting a talk titled, “The pleasures and pitfalls of bee phylogenetics.”  Per her web site, she says about herself and her research:  “I study the evolution of complex traits in invertebrates. My developing research program focuses on the ecology and evolution of immune system defense in wild bees and their pathogens. I am using molecular laboratory techniques and bioinformatic research to identify and characterize pathogens, examine their evolution across landscapes, and to evaluate genome evolution in their bee hosts.”

She goes on further to say, “Bees are extremely important pollinators in natural and agricultural settings. Most people know about the importance of the European honey bee in pollination, but there are thousands of bee species that vary considerably in their life history. For example, some bees are solitary rather than living in colonies, some specialize on particular flowers, some nest in the ground while others in wood. Evolutionary changes in these life history traits can affect speciation rates, genome evolution, and evolution of other traits. Because similar traits have independently evolved multiple times within bees, I can use phylogenies to examine patterns of selection, speciation, and genome evolution. In particular, I am interested in immune responses in wild bees to novel and evolving pathogens, and how these responses are affected by agrichemicals. This work is relevant to evaluating the robustness of wild bee communities to our changing environment.”

Dr. Jack Werren is host to Dr. James Costa, Professor in the Department of Biology at   Western Carolina University and Director of the Highlands Biological Station.  He is presenting a talk entitled, “On the Organic Law of Change ~ Insights from Alfred Russel Wallace’s “Species Notebook” of 1855-1859,” on Friday, September 20.

Dr. Costa’s interests lay in the ecology and evolution of social insects, in particular the social Lepidoptera and Symphyta.  He is also a scholar of the history of Evolutionary Biology, and has published several articles and books on Darwin, including “The Annotated Origin: A Fascimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species”.  Jim has a book on Alfred Wallace coming out this autumn, and will be telling us about his interesting discoveries from Wallace’s “Species Notebook.”

For more information on Dr. Costa and his research, please click on these links:  Dr. James Costa, or the Highlands Botanical Station.