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 - Rebecca presented a poster on her research on Bipolaris spp. infection of invasive Japanese stiltgrass at the Invasion Genomics Conference in Lafayette, Louisiana. This research was the result of Rebecca's summer CREU funded by the NSF grant Consortium for Plant Invasion Genomics.
- July - Pam gave a talk at the Botany 2021 conference about the partnership between the Marshall University Herbarium and the Special Collections Department at MU. This talk was part of a Symposium organized by the Society of Herbarium Curators.
- June - Three of our undergraduate researchers were awarded the Creative Discovery and Research Award for Fall 2021! Congratulations to Abagail, Rachael, and Payton, well done!
- April - Zach was awarded the NASA WVSGC Graduate Research Fellowship to fund his graduate research on the phylogenetics diversity of the Rosids clade in West Virginia. Congratulations Zach!
- March - Rebecca Foy will join the lab as part of the CREU with the Consortium of Plant Invasion Genomics this summer. Welcome Rebecca!
Current research
Plants used by alfalfa leafcutter beesThis project aims to identify the diversity of plant species used by the solitary bee Megachile rotundata to construct their nests and feed their larvae.
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Micromeria (Lamiaceae) in the Canary IslandsThis 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.
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