JESSICA LIGHT

Assistant Professor and Curator of Mammals
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences

Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Texas A&M University
2258 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-2258

Office Phone: 979.458.4357
Lab Phone: 979.458.4374
Fax: 979.845.4096
Office: Heep 320A
Email: jlight2@tamu.edu
Department Web Page

Lab Web Page

Current Research

My research program is focused broadly in evolutionary biology. I am especially interested in studying systematics, population genetics, and coevolutionary associations between distantly related organisms, particularly mammals and their parasites. Many parasites have complex ecological interactions with their hosts that persist over long evolutionary timescales. Parasites that are highly host specific tend to interact with their hosts in ways that facilitate a long-term coevolutionary history (i.e., cospeciation), whereas parasites that are not host specific may not cospeciate with their hosts. Comparisons of host and parasite phylogenies facilitate a greater understanding of how taxa have been associated through time.