Research in the lab aims to understand the mechanisms behind the rapid speciation processes that produce high species richness in specific areas. Combining classical taxonomy with an array of modern molecular techniques, our research focuses in three main, complementary lines: (i) understanding to what extent geological factors drive speciation using islands as models, (ii) characterizing the morphological variation associated with rapid diversifications, and ​(iii) applying DNA metabarcoding and high-throughput sequencing to study the diversity of plants used by solitary bees.

 News

  • August - Abagail Parker has joined the lab this Fall as a grad student! - We also welcome two new undergraduate students who will be helping with digitization and transcription of the Marshall University Herbarium, Jacob Webb and Erica Edinger. Welcome! - John presented a poster at the Invasion Genomics Conference held in Lafayette, Louisiana. Good job, John!
  • July - Zach and Pam presented at the Botany 2022 meeting in Anchorage, Alaska!  - Zach was awarded the Weinstein Travel Award ($250) to attend this meeting. Congrats, Zach!
  • June - John Mamas from Chatham College, PA, is joining us this summer as a CREU student as part of the Consortium for Plant Invasion Genomics. Welcome John!
  • April - Pam was awarded the Pickens-Queen Teaching Award! - Maddy passed the final exam for her MA degree on 4/8; congratulations Maddy! - Rebecca, Zach, and Maddy presented their research at the College of Science Research Expo on 4/8 AND the three were selected to represent the Biology Dept. at the Marshall's Research and Creativity Symposium on 4/19 and 4/20! Way to go! - The Marshall University Herbarium hosted the WV Native Plant Society Spring Meeting.
  • March - Abagail, Rachael, and Pam presented at the Association of Southeastern Biologists Annual Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas! - Abagail and Rachael were each awarded the Weinstein Travel Award ($200) to attend this meeting. Congrats!
  • February - Abagail, Rachael, and Rebecca were selected to present posters at the Undergraduate Research Day at the WV Capitol. Congratulations! - Moses was awarded the Gould award ($800). Well done Moses! 
  • January - Pam presented a talk at the WV Entomological Society Winter Meeting about ongoing research on long-horned bees. 

Current research

Plants used by solitary bees

We are looking into the diversity of plant species used by a couple of solitary bees: the alfalfa leafcutter bee (Megachile rotundata) and long-horned bees (Melissodes trinodis and M. agilis).

Micromeria (Lamiaceae) in the Canary Islands

This project tries to understand the influence of the islands' geological history and inter-island colonization on the diversification of insular taxa using genus Micromeria (Lamiaceae) in the Canary Islands as an example.

Taxonomy of Calceolaria (Calceolariaceae)

Calceolaria is a diverse genus with ca. 250 species distributed from Central Mexico to Chile and Southern Argentina...