I am broadly interested in how the interaction between environmental setting and species-specific traits condition their evolutionary paths. My research investigates species evolutionary responses to environmental heterogeneity and change, and how these responses influence the generation and maintenance of biological diversity.
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Research Area
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Research Area
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology—a concentration in the Biological Sciences graduate programs—brings together researchers and students interested in biodiversity research. This includes the hierarchy of biological organization, from genes to species to ecosystems. Investigations are wide ranging and encompass all manner of biological pattern and process. Examples include studies of organismal structure and function, natural and sexual selection, adaptation, behavior, evolutionary genetics, population biology, community dynamics, species formation, phylogenetics, conservation biology, paleontology, and the history of life on earth.
The Ecology and Evolutionary Biology graduate program combines faculty from the departments of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Sciences. This program is part of the Ohio Center for Ecology & Evolutionary Studies, which is an integrative collection of ecology and evolutionary biology faculty and students assembled from diverse departments and colleges across campus.
About the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Graduate Concentration
Students can pursue a master's or doctoral degree. A vital component of a student's training is interaction and collaboration. Students entering the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology concentration should thus consider themselves colleagues in the EEB focus group and take an active role in the program. The student's adviser will help in the formulation of a thesis or dissertation project, but the student is expected to take a lead role in identifying a topic appropriate for research.
Master's Guidelines for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Concentration
Ph.D. Guidelines for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Concentration
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Concentration Professional Expectations
Ohio Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Studies (OCEES)
The center advances the knowledge of ecology and evolutionary biology through an interdisciplinary learning and research community, integrating cutting-edge science and technology.
Centers & Institutes
Facilities & Research Infrastructure
- Confocal microscopy facility
- Electron microscopy facility
- Life Sciences Building
- Modern aquatic and terrestrial animal holding facility
- Ridges Land Lab
- Vertebrate specimen collection
Recent Faculty and Student Research
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Warming in Africa could require 10% more food intake for desert lizardsA study by Dr. Donald Miles and alumnus Dr. Anthony Gilbert notes that future warming in Africa could require 10% more food intake for desert lizards. "Published in Science, the study found climate warming can 'squeeze' desert lizard energy budgets by increasing the food they need just to survive while decreasing their time to find it," says a phys.org article.
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Pervasive gene flow despite strong, varied reproductive barriers in swordtailsDr. Molly Morris with faculty from Stanford University and other international scientists recently published in the journal Nature about how species can genetically hybridize to overcome reproductive barriers as a means to adapt to changing environmental conditions. This project involved international travel, experiential opportunities and data collection by many OHIO undergraduate and graduate students.
Graduate Faculty
Home departments include Biological Sciences (BIOS) in the College of Arts & Sciences and Biomedical Sciences (BMS) in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.
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Shawn Kuchta, BIOS
I am broadly interested in patterns of diversity and the evolutionary processes that generate, maintain, or limit these patterns. Research is my lab is wide ranging, including species formation, biogeography, adaptation, natural selection, and conservation biology.
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M. Raquel Marchán-Rivadeneira, BIOS
My research takes a multidisciplinary approach to examine how natural populations differentiate across space and evolve in response to varying environmental pressures. This encompasses integrating ecological genomics with phenotypic analyses to uncover patterns of adaptive variation in wild populations.
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Donald Miles, BIOS
Comparative methods ecomorphology evolution of locomotor performance in Urosaurus ornatus tree lizard. Dominance and Locomotor Performance in Urosaurus ornatus. Cost of Reproduction in Uta in collaboration with Barry Sinervo and Tony Frankino Hormones. Behavior and Fitness in Uta in collaboration with Barry Sinervo....
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Molly R. Morris, BIOS
My research interests are in sexual selection, variation in female mate preferences, and the evolution of alternative reproductive strategies. In my laboratory, we are interested in the evolutionary processes that both constrain and drive biological diversity.
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Patrick O'Connor, BMS
My main laboratory and museum efforts to date have primarily focused on phylogenetic and functional analyses within the archosaurian groups that include both avian and nonavian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and crocodyliforms.
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Larry Witmer, BMS
The WitmerLab explores the functional morphology of vertebrates. A major focus has been the soft tissues of the heads of dinosaurs, and so, vertebrate paleontology is an important activity. But, since fossils tend to preserve only bones and teeth, we also study modern-day animals.
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Kelly Williams, BIOS
My research interests are primarily in avian behavioral and physiological ecology. More specifically, I am interested in how habitat structure affects the distribution and availability of resources (e.g., arthropods) and how individual behavioral and physiological variation affects the acquisition and allocation of resources.
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Susan Williams, BMS
We study the dynamics of feeding and drinking in mammals. Our work takes both an evolutionary and clinical approach. Comparisons between species are useful for shedding light on how evolutionary shifts in diet and morphology contribute to differences in movements.