Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Doctoral Program

Spotlight – Owen Dorsey

EEB student Owen Dorsey graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2014 with a BS in Biology. After graduation, he took a couple of years off, working as a laboratory technologist at the American Red Cross, before starting his MS work at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. For his research, he investigated inbreeding avoidance and mate choice behavior in the invasive western mosquitofish (a close relative of swordtails!) using a combination of behavioral assays and genetic analyses.

Owen joined the Rosenthal lab in 2019 and is broadly interested in studying the fitness consequences of inbreeding and the evolution of pre- and post- copulatory mechanisms to avoid inbreeding. Owen plans to investigate the “cost-benefit” to inbreeding in swordtails.

Dissertation Proposal – Steven Bovio

Stephen Bovio (EEB student, Rosenthal Lab) will be defending his dissertation proposal this Thursday, April 11 and everyone is invited to attend the public portion of the proposal defense (info below).  His public presentation will be at 2 pm in WFES 411.

His talk title is Evolutionary consequences of natural and sexual selection on hybridizing swordtails

Summary: Hybridization is a common phenomenon that serves as an important evolutionary mechanism by which diversity can arise. When two genetically divergent species hybridize, the resulting admixture generates novel genotypic and phenotypic combinations that selection can act upon. In the Rosenthal lab, we study two freshwater species of fish, Xiphophorus birchmanni and X. malinche, that form natural replicated hybrid zones in the Sierra Madre Oriental in Hdg, MX. The birchmanni-malinche system offers a unique opportunity to study long-standing evolutionary questions regarding the consequences of ecological and sexual selection on hybrid populations due to their unique natural history and ecological circumstances. Xiphophorus malinche are found at high elevations while X. birchmanni are found at lower elevations – at intermediate elevations, hybrids form. The core of my dissertation will focus on the collection and analysis of data generated from our long-term research project aimed at monitoring hybrid evolution for ten generations. Replicated mesocosms at high, intermediate, and low elevations initially seeded with F1 hybrids will enable me to characterize changes in phenotypes and genotypes for early generation hybrids. Specifically, I will investigate how thermal selection and pre- and postmating sexual selection act on early generation hybrid populations.

Spotlight: Megan Exnicios

Megan Exnicios graduated with a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a minor in Marine Biology from Tulane University.

Megan joined the Rosenthal Lab in the fall of 2016. She is broadly interested in animal behavior and the role behavior plays in mate choice. Finding a mate involves making decisions that can affect the fitness of the mating individual and the resulting offspring, and many factors come into play. She aims to look at one particular factor, the role that individual personality plays in making these decisions and the consequences. Do bold individuals tend to choose mates that are also bold, or do they prefer timid mates? She will be using two species of live-bearing freshwater fish – Xiphophorus malinche and X. birchmanni – and their hybrids to explore the effects of personality in mating preference.

Find out more about Megan at the Rosenthal Lab Web site.