Integrative Biology

Craig Moritz's research centers on the use of molecular approaches to study ecology and evolution and addresses questions including; (1) the use of molecular markers to infer current and historical population processes at various spatial and temporal scales; (2) the effects of historical changes in habitat on current distributions and diversity of faunas, with particular reference to rainforest biotas; and (3) improving the use of molecular information in conservation biology and the development of strategies that recognize evolutionary processes.

Green plants, bryophytes, mosses, systematics, evolutionary biology, ecology, reproductive biology, development, phylogeny, phylogenetics, chloroplast DNA, comparative genomics, classification, species concepts

David Lindberg's systematic work features the Patellogastropoda, a basal group of gastropod molluscs that figure prominently in ecological studies of rocky shores around the world. They use phylogenetic hypotheses to understand adaptation and evolution in patellacean faunas around the world and through time. He also remains interested in the role of substrates in determining and augmenting community composition. Some effort in his lab is also directed at understanding the evolutionary history of California land snail taxa as well. He also investigate relationships amongst higher molluscan taxa including subclades within the Gastropoda, the "conchiferian" groups, and the phyletic position of the Mollusca on the Tree of Life.

Research in Todd Dawson's laboratory focuses on the interface between plants and their environment. The tools of physiological and evolutionary plant ecology and stable isotope biogeochemistry are currently being applied towards the study and interpretation of this interface.

Roy Caldwell's research interests lie in invertebrate behavior and ecology with much of my work centering on the behavioral ecology of stomatopod crustaceans, a group of tropical marine predators.

Anthony Barnosky studies how changes in the physical environment (such as climate change and mountain building) contribute to the evolution of mammal species and faunas at varying temporal and geographic scales. Field aspects of the work include collecting fossils from long stratigraphic sequences that can be well-dated by biostratigraphic, paleomagnetic, or radioisotopic techniques. Lab analyses utilize database and GIS systems to identify faunal changes through space and time; the faunal patterns are then compared with independently identified changes in the physical environment to test various evolutionary and biogeographic predictions.

biology, systematics and evolution of vascular plants, floristics, conservation biology, evolutionary processes, historical biogeography, evolutionary ecology