​I’m an evolutionary ecologist driven by a central question: how do organisms adapt to novel and changing environments? My research seeks to uncover the evolutionary and ecological processes that shape geographic distribution of biological diversity. A central focus of my work is on host–microbiota interactions, particularly how gut microbial communities contribute to and are shaped by ecological divergence of their hosts. I’m especially interested in the dynamics of the gut microbiota during adaptive evolution, and how microbial shifts might facilitate or constrain host diversification. To investigate these questions, I work with a range of fascinating vertebrate systems, with a special focus on the threespine stickleback fish. I combine field studies with controlled experiments and develop methodological and theoretical approaches in microbiome research to better understand the distribution of gut microbiota variation across ecologically divergent host lineages. More broadly, I’m excited by integrative research asking not only how organisms adapt, but also how the microbial communities they host may be both passengers and drivers of evolutionary change.

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field work - Impressions

Vancouver Island

California - Coastal streams

California - Sierra Nevada

White Sands National Park

Nicaragua

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