Main Areas of Research

These are just some of the research questions our lab explores

Photo credit: Isidora Silva-Valderrama

Phylogeny & Infectious Diseases

Identifying hotspots of parasite diversity and future host-shifts. What determines pathogen host breadth? What is the relationship between host breadth and virulence?

Phylogeny & Conservation

Preserving the tree-of-life. Integrating phylogenetic diversity metrics into conservation thinking. Does phylogenetic diversity capture feature diversity? Do habitats with greater phylogenetic diversity provide more of Nature’s contributions to people?

Photo credit: Johandre van Rooyen

Phylogeny & Climate Change

Finding new ways to accurately predict species responses to future change. How are phenological cues conserved across phylogeny? Does phylogenetic conservatism limit adaptive potential to global change? Is there a trade off between species responses in space vs time?