Distribution Modeling Using Remote Sensing
In this research, species distribution modeling is used as a tool to understand the environmental determinants that control the distribution of species and to obtain spatial patterns on the species’…
PROJECTS
Ecology and Evolution
Region: Africa, Australia, Bahamas, Canada (British Columbia), Ecuador Our research links behavior to ecology, conservation, and evolution in a wide range of systems around the world. Past research has focused…
Evolution of Resource Polymorphisms
Region: Africa (Cameroon) The black-bellied seedcracker (Pyrenestes ostrinus) is unusual among birds in exhibiting a non-sex-related polymorphism in bill size and represents one of the few examples of disruptive selection…
Evolutionary Change in Human-Altered Environments
CTR and the Institute of Environment and Sustainability sponsored an international summit in February 2007 to discuss the effects of human activity on climate change, habitat degradation, captive breeding and…
Landscape Conservation Partnership
The Center for Tropical Research has recently developed new models in California to determine the amount of intraspecific genetic variation present in an area. Recently, we tested this new approach in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area (SMNRA), part of the southern subunit (2) of the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative.
Mapping Evolutionary Processes Under Climate Change
The Partnership for International Research and Education project seeks to develop an integrated framework for conserving central African biodiversity under climate change that is both evolutionary-informed and grounded in the socioeconomic constraints of the region.
Rainforest Biodiversity and Speciation
Region:Africa (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast), Australia, South America (Ecuador) These projects seek to understand the mechanisms important in generating rainforest biodiversity. Results from research on birds in Cameroon and…
The Role of Sexual Selection in Speciation in Pacific Island Songbirds
Ever since Darwin’s “The Origin of Species,” biologists have been studying the causes of diversification and speciation. Speciation may be driven by sexual or ecological selection or random drift, and…