Our lab investigates how the ecology of a species shapes patterns of variation (from genes to genomes), how populations adapt to environmental shifts and the implication of ecological adaptation in the process of speciation. Our research revolves around these fundamental aspects of evolution. Our work focuses on: (i) the study of the genetical basis of adaptation; (ii) speciation genetics/genomics and the evolution of reproductive incompatibilities; (iii) the effects of ecological adaptation in behavioral evolution and its effects on reproductive isolation; (iv) analysis of genome evolution via the sequencing and assembly for several cactophilic Drosophila species; (v) examining the role of gene expression changes in evolution; (vi) the relationship between molecular, expression and life history variation and evolution; (vii) using new genome editing techniques, CRISPR-Cas9, assess the functional consequence of variants in an ecological context. We mostly focus on a group of cactophilic Drosophila that inhabit the deserts of North America. These Drosophila species are an excellent system to study given that their ecology is well understood and the fact that we can perform many genetic, genomic, manipulative and life history experiments.
