Research
One of the greatest challenges in biology is to explain observed
levels and patterns of species diversity. My research focuses on pieces
of this puzzle on a variety of organizational levels from the physiology
of individuals to the large scale temporal and spatial dynamics of assemblages.
I use freshwater fishes as model organisms to address some of these problems.
Much of my recent work has focused on fishes in the Fundulus notatus
species complex. These species are ecologically and morphologically very
similar and found throughout the Mississippi basin and Southern United
States. The two most widely distributed members of this complex, F.
notatus and F. olivaceus, occur throughout much of the Mississippi
River drainage as well as the coastal drainages of the Gulf of Mexico.
Throughout this range, the species encounter one another and hybridize
in numerous contact zones. These contact zones are ecological and evolutionary
replicates, making them an ideal study system for some basic questions:
Selected Recent Publications
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![]() Fundulus notatus, the blackstripe topminnow. ![]() Three Fundulus olivaceus (identified via mtDNA haplotype) sampled from a contact zone. Note the variability in the spot phenotype. ![]() Geographic ranges of fishes in the Fundulus notatus species complex. |


