Ecology &
Evolutionary Biology

The objective of my program is to provide a bridge between the patterns of evolution, as evidenced by phylogenies, and the processes by which evolution occurs. The significance of this link between pattern and process is that it allows macro- and microevolutionists to pinpoint the relative time in a clade’s evolution when a particular adaptation or vicariant event occurred. This in turn allows us to test or generate vicariant biogeographic hypotheses, and to design specific research protocols to test microevolutionary predictions derived from the cladogram. The program is supported by projects that cut across several levels of the taxonomic hierarchy to test the generality of various evolutionary explanations derived from the cladograms. Powerful hypotheses are essential if they are to be used to understand evolutionary and biogeographic processes.