Research Interests:
- Evolution & Ecology of Tropical Marine Mutualisms
- Systematics of Actiniaria (sea anemones)
- Phylogenetics
- Genomics
Our lab is currently focused on three main projects involving sea anemones and the clownfish-sea anemone symbiosis.
- Systematics and Species delimitation of the clownfish-hosting sea anemones
- Origin of tropical sea anemone diversity
- Genomic consequences and convergence in a model marine mutualism
My work spans from broad order-level phylogenetics to phylogeography, species delimitation, population genetics, full genome sequencing, and behavioral ecology.
Organismally, we focus our research on tropical sea anemones (Order Actiniaria) and their symbionts. We conduct field research in all tropical oceans, but are especially focused at the moment on the evolution of the clownfish-hosting sea anemones in the Indo-West Pacific.
We are especially focused on mutualisms found on tropical coral reefs, which are the most conspicuously mutualistic ecosystems on the planet, and among the most biodiverse.
