Life Sciences Seminar - Ecological Adaptation and the Maintenance of Biodiversity
Ecological adaptation and the origin and maintenance of biodiversity
Dr. Thomas Powell
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Binghamton University (SUNY)
Abstract:
Understanding how new species arise and how biological diversity persists in the face of changing conditions are central question in biology. Biologists have long understood that the evolution of reproductive isolation is central to the formation of new species but have only recently begun to appreciate the role that ecological adaptation plays in this process. During my talk, I will describe on-going research surrounding a classic example of the evolution of new species in-action: the apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella. These insects are specialist fruit flies which shifted from infesting native hawthorn fruit to introduced domestic apples during recent historical times. Taking advantage of this new ecological opportunity required the rapid evolution of traits that also act as barriers to reproduction between these two diverging populations, placing them on the path to become separate species. Similar process may explain a whole adaptive radiation of fruit fly species and may have consequences for patterns of diversification at other trophic levels. One of the primary traits driving speciation in this system is the regulation of seasonal timing or phenology, and I will discuss how this case of rapid evolution of life history timing makes this an excellent system for understanding the potential of evolutionary responses to climate change.
Speaker Bio:
Tom Powell is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. He came to Binghamton University in 2016 after postdoctoral research positions at the University of Florida and the University of Toronto, and he completed his PhD at the University of Notre Dame, under the direction of Jeff Feder. While an undergrad at Shepherd University, he started his research career as a technician in a conservation genetics lab at the USGS Leetown Science Center. His research program at BU is broadly focused on understanding the origin and maintenance of biodiversity. He is interested in the role of ecological adaptation in the formation of new species and the role of on-going evolutionary processes in the response of ecological communities to global change. His lab takes an integrative approach to investigating how ecological processes, biogeography, physiological systems, genetic variation, and genomic architecture interact during the origin of species and adaptation to novel niches and changing environments. The majority of his lab’s work is focused on the most diverse groups of animals on Earth: plant- feeding insects and their parasitoids. The Powell lab is particularly interested in understanding insect life history adaptation and its role in both speciation and rapid adaptation to climate change.
Intended Audience:
Beginners, undergraduates, graduates. Those with interest in the topic.
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
Interpreter Requested?
No