Wayne Lab

Dr. Katy Semple Delaney

My research interests fit broadly in the category of conservation biology. Specifically, I am interested in how wild populations are genetically affected by isolation on land fragments, either actual oceanic islands or habitat islands caused by changes in land use because of human activity. Maintaining connectivity of the landscape and protecting land can decrease the negative genetic effects, especially in highly impacted Mediterranean climate regions like Southern California.

I am also a member of UCLA's Center for Tropical Research. Please see my CTR webpage for more details.

Dr. Brenda Larison

I am interested in the evolution of phenotypic variation and in conservation. My current research addresses both of these areas through work on two species of zebra. One area of research focuses on identifying the genetic bases and ecological correlates of stripe variation in plains zebra. The wide distribution and extensive geographic variation in striping pattern shown by plains zebra make them an excellent study subject. In addition, they show a number of interesting and potentially useful variants in some populations, including melanism, albinism and spotting. My second area of research focuses on the endangered Grevy's zebra. With colleagues at UCLA, Denver Zoo, University of Montana, and the Kenya based Grevy's Zebra Trust, I am conducting research that will provide managers with information about population genetic health and structure. We are also using modeling to examine impacts of land use on connectivity, and projected climate change on future Grevy's distributions.

Dr. Olaf Thalmann

The evolutionary history of natural populations is characterized by the interplay of demographic changes and adaptations over time, which ultimately shapes the genetic make-up of these populations. Investigating patterns of genetic variation in wild populations can provide us with significant insights into the evolutionary dynamics of a population's history. My previous research mainly focused on the demographic history of our closest living relatives - the great apes, yielding some interesting new insights in gorilla evolution. As I continue to pursue projects on great ape demographic histories, I am also currently conducting studies that aim to unravel the mechanisms that led to adaptative changes in extant and extinct wild canid and other mammalian species. The molecular tools I am applying involve state of the art, next generation sequencing techniques which provide unprecedented amounts of genetic data that facilitate in depth population genetics analyses and simulations.

Dr. John Pollinger

As the Director of the UCLA Conservation Genetics Resource Center and as a Research Fellow for Drs. Robert Wayne and Tom Smith, I supervise development and refinement of analysis methods for conservation genetics and their application to key conservation issues for animals and plants. In addition, my interests include finding solutions to identification and protection of key ecosystems and reserves critical to preserving current animal and plant diversity and future evolutionary potential; and identifying sustained support mechanisms to assure their stable existence and preservation.

I am also a member of UCLA's Center for Tropical Research. Please see my CTR webpage for more details.

Kerry Deere (co-advised with Greg Grether)

The guppy (Poecilia reticulata) is a model species for the study of natural selection because color patterns vary as a function of light region, female preference, and the presence of predators. However, the genetic basis of these color polymorphisms is not well known and without such knowledge, evolutionary dynamics and the role of selection cannot be readily understood. My research focus is examining orange color variation between outbred populations of guppies by integrating ecology, behavior and, genetics. I have created an outbred F2 mapping population to perform quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping in order to identify putative genomic regions associated with orange pigmentation differences. Additionally, I have used this mapping population to perform mate choice trials in order to ascertain the role female preference plays in influencing the uniformity of orange pigment ratios across populations. Please see my website for more details.

Princess Gilbert

I am studying diversification and adaptive variation in chameleons on the island of Madagascar using genetics and environmental modeling. Specifically I want to (1) identify the initial reduction of gene flow within one species; (2) determine the barriers which are involved in this reduction; and (3) elucidate how selection acts upon the genome of that species by partially reducing gene flow. I am currently establishing the phylogeography of the Chameleon species Furcifer oustaleti in addition to a description of population genetic structure. This includes analyses of gene flow and genetic variation, as well as the identification of genetically unique units. I am also rigorously and statistically testing biogeographic hypotheses which might explain population distributions. To do so I am using ecological niche modeling and hypothesis testing based on coalescent theory. Lastly, I am identifying genomic regions under selection in F. oustaleti. To do so, I am establishing a map of adaptive variation across the genome and isolating genes or regions thought to influence fitness and therefore be under selection.

Karen Kapheim (co-advised with Peter Nonacs)

I am interested in how multiple pathways of selection affect phenotypic evolution. I am especially interested in social evolution, because of the potentially important influence of maternal (and other indirect) effects on cooperative behavior. I study a facultatively eusocial sweat bee, Megalopta genalis, at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Barro Colorado Island, Republic of Panama. These bees are unique because they can live socially (with some daughters remaining in their natal nest as workers), but have retained the ability to live solitarily (with all offspring dispersing). This makes them especially useful for investigating the selective pressures linked to the origins of sociality. I combine field-based behavioral observations with genetic parentage analysis, hormone and protein assays, and microarray studies of gene expression to investigate the role of developmental maternal effects on social behavior.

Laurel Klein

I have a strong interest in conservation biology and my research addresses how urban development impacts native wildlife populations. I am currently examining how urban development affects disease susceptibility of individuals within local wildlife populations. My dissertation is focused on three consequences of urban development which include reduced gene flow associated with roads and development, the effects of human introduced toxicants (anticoagulant rodenticides), and the impact of spillover of disease from domestic to wild animal populations. In collaboration with the National Park Service, I am examining local bobcat populations in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the world's largest urban park. My study has a strong field component requiring a 9 month field season to capture animals for sample collection. Further, my study also has a strong laboratory component that includes genetic analysis and immunological assays.

Sergio Nigenda-Morales

I earned my bachelor degree in Marine Biology in 2005 at the Autonomous University of South Baja California (UABCS) in Mexico. During my tenure in UABCS I worked on research projects to determine the genetic structure of various marine mammal species in the Gulf of California and Mexican Pacific. Currently I am a second year Ph.D. student and my research is focused on ecological genomics of mammals, in particular studying the genetic mechanisms underlying recent adaptive variation across different environments and in response to environmental changes. I am also interested in studying the population genetics and phylogeography of different vertebrate species distributed from North to Central America.

Katherine Pease

Evolutionary impacts of an invasive predator on a native anuran.

Shauna Price

For my dissertation, I am building a system to test hypotheses that stem from the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution in a host-parasite system. The host is the ant species (Cephalotes atratus) and the parasite is the fungal species (Cordyceps kniphofioides). This particular host-parasite system is ideal for examining this theory due to unique characteristics of the ant and fungus. Cephalotes atratus is a widely distributed tree-dwelling ant, ranging from Panama to northern Argentina, and it occurs at low elevations in a variety of different habitats. Because ants do not typically disperse far from their natal colony, they usually exhibit patterns of genetic diversity that correspond to distance, such that colonies that are geographically close are genetically similar. The Cordyceps parasite is obligate and host-specific, meaning it does not persist outside of the host and that it does not infect other host species. These fungi infect insects, causing them to climb trees so they die in elevated locations. The fungus consumes the insect tissue, and then produces an elongated fruiting body containing spores that disperse aerially to infect other insect hosts. Because the parasite is so tightly coupled to the host, I predict this system will exhibit different patterns of association across their geographic range and that reciprocal evolutionary changes are driving the geographic differences in this system. Currently, I am examining the genetic structure of the host and parasite on both broad and fine geographic scales.

I am also a member of UCLA's Center for Tropical Research. Please see my CTR webpage for more details.

Rena Schweizer

My research has spanned embryology, microbiology, development, physiology, and molecular evolution. Through these research experiences I have realized the power of using cutting-edge molecular techniques to understand ecology and evolution of natural populations. My varied experiences have built a wealth of knowledge and expertise from which I can draw to create integrative research questions. I am interested in learning about the processes that lead to the evolution of species and their adaptations, and how these processes affect phenotypic and genetic variation. I am especially interested in applying genomic techniques usually created for human or model organism studies to field-based assessments of the ecology and natural history of populations.

Daniel Stahler

My research interests include conservation biology, behavioral ecology, molecular ecology, and the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of large carnivore systems. Since 1996, I have been studying large carnivores, with focus on the gray wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains. Since 2002, I have been the Project Biologist for the National Park Service's Yellowstone Wolf Project, responsible for coordinating all aspects of the project's research program, which focuses on wolf population dynamics, predator-prey, social dynamics, population genetics, and ecological and behavioral interactions with other species. Concurrent with this role, I am a PhD candidate in the Wayne lab. My dissertation research centers on the effects of genetic, behavioral, and ecological factors on the social dynamics and life history patterns of social carnivores, using Yellowstone wolves as my model system. I devote as much time as possible immersed in wilderness, and when not at UCLA, I make my home in Gardiner, Montana, at the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

Please see my CV [pdf] for more details and publications.

Bridgett vonHoldt

My research interests include evolutionary and population genetics of canids, with a recent focus evolutionary genomics of wolf-like canids (dogs and wolves). I am a member of a multi-institutional group (CanMap) working towards understanding how patterns of genome variation among wild and domestic canids are shaped by the domestication process, and to identify candidate regions associated with dog phenotypes as a result of artifical selction. Additionally, I also have conservation-related projects that aim to detect gene flow and genetic structure among the endangered gray wolf populations of the northern Rocky Mountains.

For more information and my CV, please see my website.

Daniel Greenfield

I'm involved in research projects ranging from population studies, to the application of genetic data used to answer questions concerning relatedness or to find a match in a forensic case. I also help to keep the lab running smoothly by ordering and stocking supplies and making various buffers and reagents. Frequently, I test out new methods and procedures, and train others in lab techniques. My interests involve forensic cases, landscape and population genetics, and the development of mircrosatellite libraries. I'm always eager to learn new techniques (most recently 454/pyrosequencing) or help troubleshoot.

Doreen Schwochow

I am a research associate establishing and conducting RNA work. My primary objective is to investigate the patterns of gene expression in wild wolf populations to better understand the molecular basis of adaptation to different habitats, environments, and climatic conditions, and more specifically how social rank modulates genetics. In addition to my RNA work, I am assisting in projects involving ancient DNA and phylogenetics of various carnivores. Additionally, with Drs. Jessica Lynch Alfaro and Michael Alfaro, I am using museum specimens to determine evolutionary relationships of Capuchin Monkeys.

For more details, please see my CV [pdf] and the Alfaro webpage.