L. Lacey Knowles

Research interests

My research focuses on speciation and the processes that initiate or contribute to population divergence, and spans a wide range of temporal and spatial scales that have both ecological and evolutionary implications. We work on a diversity of empirical systems (including insects, mammals, fishes, plants and lizards) in the lab, with student and postdoc research focused on not only empirical applications, but also methodological development.

One major component of the research focuses on the effect of climate change on species diversity. For much of this work, our lab focuses on integrative approaches to generating hypotheses and testing them using genomic data and a range of analytical approaches. A particular focus in the lab is on developing refined hypotheses to test how species-specific traits influence the effects of climate change on patterns of genomic variation.

Another primary component of research in the lab focuses on phylogenomics and application of genomic data to study the history of diversification. This work ranges from the conceptual and methodological challenges with inferring phylogenetic relationships when the genealogical history of loci differs, to the characterization of the processes structuring genomic variation across species (e.g., the relative contributions of incomplete lineage sorting, lateral gene transfer, and gene duplication and loss). Part of the work also addresses methodological issues with inferring species boundaries, using both genomic and phenotypic data.

Other projects in the lab span a range of topics, including studies to address the role of  sexual selection in diversification to studies on how specific traits might mediate dispersal patterns in studies of the biogeographic histories of taxa. As with the other research foci, this work combines both empirical investigations with methodological development and is carried out in a diversity of taxa (e.g., Fijian ants, Caribbean birds and crickets, and montane grasshoppers).

If you have interests in such projects, please contact Dr. Knowles to discuss possible research opportunities.

See a comic featuring the research of Dr. Knowles "Grasshoppers and the Ice Age" by Jennifer Zee, a Ph.D. art student.

Teaching

BIO 116 Biology of Sex
EEB 400 Statistical phylogeographic modeling applications in evolutionary biology/ecology

Current Graduate students

Rachel Wadleigh

Current Postdoctoral fellows

Arnaud Becheler,  Ricardo Mariño-Pérez, Perry (JR) Wood

Undergraduate researchers

Wonwoong Kim, undergraduate researcher, 2022-present

Adam Kuplicki, undergraduate researcher, 2020-present

Georgia Mies, undergraduate researcher, 2019-2022; now a PhD student at Univ. Pennsylvania

Olivia Ngo, undergraduate researcher, 2019-2022; now in Vet School at MSU

Lab alumni

Giorgia Auerteri: Ph.D. 2022, now an Assist Professor at Missouri State University

Dr. Jessica Fender; postdoc; 2020-2021; now at CSIRO Australia

Tristan McKnight, Ph. D. 2017, now an Assist. Prof. of Practice, Entomology Dept, University of Arizona

Joyce Prado, Postdoctoral Fellow 2017, now an Assistant Professor and Curator of Mammals, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Carlos Muñoz Ramírez, Ph.D. 2016, now a FONDECYT Postdoctoral Fellow, Facultad de Ciencias and CIBAS, Universidad Católica de la Ssma, Concepción, Chile

Rob Massatti, Ph.D. 2016, now an evolutionary geneticists with USGS, Flagstaff AZ

Andréa Thomaz, Ph.D. 2017, now on a postdoctoral fellowship at the Biodiversity Center, University of British Columbia

Richard Hodel, Postdoctoral Fellow 2017-2019, now Postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian

Luciana Moreira Resende, postdoctoral fellow 2016-2018,now an Assist. Professor, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Jeet Sukumaran, Postdoctoral Fellow 2014-2018, now an Assist. Professor, San Diego State University

Mariah Kenny, MS 2018, now a research technician, University of Conneticut

Katharine Marske, postdoctoral fellow 2016, now an Assistant Professor at University of Oklahoma

Joaquin Ortego, 2014-2015Ramon y Cajal Research Fellow, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)

Anna Papadopoulou, Postdoctoral fellow 2013-2015, now an Assist. Prof. at University of Cyprus

Qixin He, Ph.D., Ph.D. 2015, now an Assistant Professor at Purdue University

Lucy Tran, Ph.D. 2015 2015, now a Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley

Jen-Pan Huang, Ph.D. 2015, now a tenure-track Assistant Professor, Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

Diego Alvarado-Serrano: Ph.D. 2015, now an Assist. Professor at Ohio University

Mark Christie, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2014, now an Assistant Professor at Purdue University

Melisa Olave, Postdoctoral Fellow 2014-2016,now a postdoc at Universität Konstanz, Germany

Huateng Huang, Ph.D. 2013, now an Assistant Professor, College of life Science, Shaanxi Normal University

Hayley Lanier, postdoctoral fellow 2010-2013, now an Assistant Professor at University of Oklahoma

Dan Edwards, Postdoctoral Fellow 2010-2012, now an Assistant Professor UC Merced

Jason Brown, Postdoctoral Fellow 2010 - 2013, now Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University

Amanda Zellmer, Ph.D. 2010, now a Research Scientist at Occidental College, CA

Tim Connallon, Ph.D. 2009,  now Lecturer, Head of Research Group, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University tim.connallon@monash.edu

Elen Oneal, Ph.D. 2009,  now a Postdoctoral Fellow, Duke University, eo22@duke.edu

Corrine Richards, Ph.D. 2008, Postdoctoral Fellow 2008-09, University of California Berkeley, now an Assoc. Professor at University of Pittsburgh; Director of the Pymatuning Lab of Ecology

John McCormack, Postdoctoral Fellow 2008-2010, now Assoc. Professor at Occidental College

Bryan Carstens, Postdoctoral Fellow 2004-07, now Full Professor, Ohio State University

Research Areas(s)

• Speciation, sexual selection, phylogeography, and evolutionary radiations

Affiliation(s)

• Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Museum of Zoology, Insect Division Curator