Other Projects and Collaborations

I maintain an active interest in many other facets of science, biology, and population genetics which I enjoy exploring with collaborators.

Several current projects include:

1. - The role of data accessibility and archiving in scientific research and  reproducibility with the UBC reproducibility group
   

1. -  The role of landscape and demography in spatial genetic structure before and after a population crash in an alpine butterfly species, as part of a 2012 distributed graduate seminar and mini-course on landscape genetics
   

1. - Application of methods for estimating effective population size within a hierarchically structured metapopulation of Silene latifolia
   

1. - Genetic analysis of metapopulation processes in
   the Silene-Microbotryum host-pathogen system.
   

Please see my links page for more information on my collaborators.

I am interested in the interaction and effects of gene flow and population structure on adaptation and evolution of populations. I am exploring the role of environmental heterogeneity and varying population sizes in these interactions and the implications this has for persistence and differentiation of populations into the future.

My current research has both an empirical and theoretical focus. I am examining the genetic basis of local adaptation in Pinus contorta (lodgepole pine), conducting a study to ground-truth methods for detecting SNPs which confer adaptation to certain environmental conditions. I am also investigating through simulations how local adaptation can vary across a species range, especially at range edges.

My past work has involved examining the effects of biological invasions on genetic diversity and population structuring, and using this information combined with approximate Bayesian computation to unravel the history of an invasion of the plant Silene latifolia.

Please see my CV and publications for further information.