Alex Buerkle
Principal Investigator

Research: Alex works on the evolutionary genetics of a variety of organisms and prefers those with lots of genetic data and an interesting ecological context. He enjoys analysis and writing computer code in the pursuit of a better understanding of speciation and adaptation.
Teaching: Evolutionary Biology, Computational Biology and Ecological Genetics

Zach Gompert
Ph.D. student, Program in Ecology

Zach is broadly interested in hybridization, both as an opportunity to dissect components of reproductive isolation and for its creative role in homoploid hybrid speciation. His current empirical research involves genomic clines and hybridization in Lycaeides butterflies. He also develops analytical approaches in collaboration with Alex.
 

Monia Haselhorst
Ph.D. student, Program in Ecology

Monia is interested in the processes of plant adaptation and speciation. She seeks evolutionary and biogeographic explanations for why a plant is living where it is, how it ended up there and what made it possible for it to adapt to its environment. She is working in the areas of ecological genetics and physiological ecology. Her initial focus involves the dynamics of hybridization in North American spruce and how hybrids can contribute to our understanding of the genetics of ecological differences between species.

Tom Parchman
Postdoctoral research scientist

Tom’s research is at the interface of ecology and evolutionary biology, specifically in the ecological processes that underlie population divergence, speciation, coevolution, and adaptive radiation. His work utilizes field and experimental techniques to quantify natural selection and resulting trait evolution, and molecular markers to address questions involving natural genetic variation and the genetic basis of adaptive evolution. Much of Tom's research has focused on crossbills (Aves: Loxia) and different conifers on which they specialize, and has investigated the contribution of geographically structured coevolution to the diversification of crossbills. Recently initiated work involves phylogeographical and population genomic studies of lodgepole pine, and investigations into the genetic control of important adaptive traits, most notably cone serotiny.

Qiurong Wang
Ph.D. student, Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences

Qiurong is interested in historical recombination in natural hybrid populations and utilizes genomic data to reconstruct recombination histories. Her research is focused on how the frequency and chromosomal distribution of meiotic recombination shapes the genomes of hybrids. Currently she is working on hybridization history and genomic structure of lines of laboratory mice. She is also developing an algorithm to construct genetic linkage maps based on data from natural populations of hybrids.

Brittany Jenkins
Research assistant

Brittany worked in the lab for two years, first as an undergraduate and then as a research assistant. With Tom she worked on genetic variation in lodgepole pine and with Alex she completed two projects on population genetic variation in different species of Penstemon. She is now a research assistant in the Saffran lab at the University of Colorado, where she is applying her lab skills to behavioral ecology questions.