Meet L. Lacey Knowles

L. Lacey Knowles, PhD, is Robert B. Payne Collegiate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan. She is also a curator at the Museum of Zoology.

Rapid Divergence

Knowles focuses on recent and rapid emergence of species. That means researching species that may have diverged quickly–as many as 100 new species in under 5 million years. Understanding this evolutionary timeline for different groups can give important insight into the process of speciation.

Cryptic Species

Cryptic species often stump scientists because organisms that look the same on the outside turn out to be completely different internally, or in genetic makeup.

Knowles uses genomic tools to help identify these cryptic species.

Melanoplus Puzzle

For the past 20 years, Knowles has been researching a group of Melanoplus species of grasshoppers in the Rocky Mountains.

Confidence

Working with a team of experts, Knowles uses new genomic techniques and computational tools to answer old questions. Combined with morphology and traditional taxonomical analysis, these different avenues of research mean Knowles can be confident about the conclusions she draws.

Field Work

Because these grasshoppers don’t fly, catching them out in the field requires thinking like one.

Being in the field lets Knowles’s team members see the environment of the specimens they are collecting firsthand. Along with the specimen, they collect climate, georeference, and habitat data.