About

The lab is broadly interested in the evolutionary consequences of polyploidy, from local adaptation among populations of the same species with variable ploidy to how new species arise through hybridization with genome duplication or allopolyploidy. The organismal focus of the lab is on grasses and grassy ecosystems in Madagascar and the Southeastern United States, but there are also projects in the lab that address large-scale questions of plant molecular evolution across angiosperms. Computational and statisitical development is focused on coalescent models in population genomics and phylogenomics, especially for reconstructing demographic histories and estimating phylogenetic networks, respectively.

Research goals are rooted in fundamental evolutionary biology, but there are explicit connections to understanding the resilience of grasslands for land management, the genetic basis of agricultural traits, and the biodiversity and conservation of vulnerable ecosystems that provide crucial services. Polyploid plants remain challenging in evolutionary biology while also being deeply consequential for human livelihoods. The lab is committed to bridging these themes while also raising the appreciation of plant diversity globally and locally.