Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Doctoral Program

EEB Journal Club

. . . Friday, September 13.  Zach Hancock will lead a discussion on the origins of genome complexity. The paper argues that the transition in genome complexity from prokaryotes to eukaryotes emerged passively by nonadaptive processes. Should make for a fun discussion. We will meet on Friday at 4 PM at O’Bannon’s.  [Lynch & Conery]

Also, here is a link to a Google sign-up sheet for the rest of the semester. There are a limited number of spots, so first-come-first-serve.

Dissertation Defense – Zach Hancock

Zach Hancock (EEB student, Wicksten Lab) will be defending his dissertation proposal next Friday and everyone is invited to attend the public portion of the defense (flyer attached).  His public presentation is Dec 14 at 1:00 pm in WFES 411.
His talk title is On the Origin of Haustoriid Species: Phylogenetics and speciation of sand-burrowing amphipods
Summary: Understanding the formation of new species is of critical importance to taxonomy, which has been aided in recent decades by the widespread incorporation of molecular techniques. This is particularly true when morphological divergence is limited (i.e., a cryptic species complex). Species delimitation, population genomics, and phylogenomics can help to resolve the mode of speciation in recently diverged taxa in concert with coalescent simulation modeling. This study aims at deciphering the origin of beach-burrowing crustaceans (Amphipoda: Haustoriidae), and will use each of these approaches in a step-wise manner to first generate a phylogeographic hypothesis, delimit potential cryptic lineages, test for introgression and hybridization, and finally examine trait evolution at the family level.

Spotlight: Zach Hancock

Zachary Hancock is a first year PhD student who received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University-Texarkana. There, his research focused on the ecology and distribution of littoral freshwater microcrustacea of the Suborder Cladocera.

He has a particular interest in the phenotypic response to environmental cues displayed by certain daphniids (cyclomorphosis). He is broadly interested in the evolution and phylogenetics of the branchiopods and malacostracans.

See Zach’s ResearchGate page.