We study the evolutionary genetics of sexual selection, sexual conflict, and speciation in insects using a combination of phenotypic and genomic approaches. We work with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the mosquito Aedes aegypti, and several flying insects on the Galapagos islands including the carpenter bee Xylocopa darwini. A recurrent feature of our work is the use of experimental evolution, where replicated populations evolve in manipulated environments and are tracked in real time, which allows us to directly test predictions of evolutionary theory and often leads to exciting and unexpected outcomes. We use this approach to ask how sexual selection constrains and facilitates adaptation, how sex differences evolve, and whether certain types of selection can lead to strengthened reproductive isolation. More recently, we have started using comparative approaches to study the phylogeography of island endemics. See the Research tab for more information on our projects.

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