Parchman Research Page
Evolutionary Ecology and Genetics
My research is focused at the interface of ecology and evolutionary biology, specifically in the ecological processes that underlie population divergence, speciation, coevolution, and adaptive radiation. This work embodies multidisciplinary approaches, utilizing field and experimental techniques aimed at quantifying natural selection and resulting patterns of trait evolution, and involving the extensive use of molecular marker data to address questions involving phylogenetic relationships, population genetic structuring, hybridization, and the genetic basis of adaptive evolution. Much of my work has focused on crossbills (Aves: Loxia) and different conifers on which they specialize, and has investigated the geographic structuring of the coevolutionary process, and the contribution of coevolution in the diversification of crossbills. More recently initiated work focuses on conservation genetics of stream fishes and pocket gophers, and the genetics of adaptation in pines.
Ponderosa pines, Estes Valley, Colorado
