Viral Ecology
Bacteriophage are the most abundant organisms on the planet.
They modify
population dynamics of hosts,
alter biogeochemical cycles,
catalyze microbial diversity,
and influence the spread of infectious disease.
Originally discovered in 1919 by Felix d'Herelle and used
by Luria, Delbruck and others as a means to understand the fundamental
mechanisms of molecular biology, we have since entered
a third age of phage.
Given their fast turnover times, large population sizes,
and extensive molecular and metagenomic characterizations
phage present a unique opportunity to develop a testable theoretical
foundation for (i) population dynamics, (ii) evolutionary game theory,
(iii) life history theory, and (iv) the connection between regulatory networks
and community functioning. We are interested in all of these issues. We use
a combination of analytical, computational, and (soon) experimental
techniques to study the "evolutionary ecology of bacterial viruses."
Biological Networks
The lens of evolution provides an under-explored
opportunity to link disciplines in ways that attack fundamental
challenges in biology.
We are presently studying networks within organisms (such as the hydraulic
networks of woody plants) as well as networks among organisms (such
as syntrophic networks and food webs). Our efforts are both
theoretical and empirical -- all data sets developed in connection
with our study of biological networks will be made publicly available.
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Ecosystem Structure
Ecological communities are comprised of agents with often-competing aims. We study how unusual environments (such as river networks) or unusual interactions (such as allometric scaling of predation rate) determine the maintenance and generation of ecosystem structure. Current studies include biodiversity in river networks, evolution of dispersal traits in reserve networks, as well as analysis of the size & scaling of predator-prey dynamics.
Adaptive dynamics is the study of phenotypic evolution based on an explicit ecological model. We are working to extend the theoretical foundation of adaptive dynamics as well as apply it to the study of microbial ecology.