philosophy

General Research Philosophy and Aims

The rate at which our planet's biodiversity is disappearing has been likened to a mass extinction of geological proportions. Since only about 1.8 million of the estimated 3.6 - 100 million species on earth have been described it is impossible to know precisely the implications of this human - driven cataclysmic event. Not surprisingly one of the first steps to formally addressing the loss of biodiversity involves gathering as much information as we can about species diversity, and learning as much as we can about the underlying evolutionary process of species diversification. Traditional alpha - taxonomy and phylogenetic systematics are perhaps some of the most effective tools that we can apply to this global scale problem. The primary focus of the work in my laboratory is the study of arthropod diversity. Arachnids and myriapods are the main study organisms I utilize with a particular emphasis on spiders of the infraorder Mygalmorphae (trapdoor spiders, tarantulas, & their relatives) and millipedes of the order Spirobolida. Although millipedes and trapdoor spiders are nontraditional evolutionary models they are ideal candidates for evolutionary studies because of their limited dispersal capabilities and thus tendency to become easily, and apparently quickly, isolated. My work on spiders and millipedes spans a number of hierarchical levels; in addition to being interested in higher level classification issues in spiders and millipedes I am also interested in alpha taxonomy, and use the insights gained in this most basic, yet important work, to consider questions about speciation process. Because evolutionary diversification is a complex, multifaceted process, the study of it, at all levels, requires an integrated phylogenetic approach. By using the insights gained through comparative morphology, molecular evolution, biogeography, ecology, and morphometrics, within the context of an explicit phylogenetic framework, I attempt to address questions regarding the pattern and process of diversification in these very interesting groups of organisms.



General Research Philosophy and Aims The rate at which our planet's biodiversity is disappearing has been likened to a mass extinction of geological proportions. Since only about 1.8 million of the estimated 3.6 - 100 million species on earth have been described it is impossible to know precisely the implications of this human - driven cataclysmic event. Not surprisingly one of the first steps to formally addressing the loss of biodiversity involves gathering as much information as we can about species diversity, and learning as much as we can about the underlying evolutionary process of species diversification. Traditional alpha - taxonomy and phylogenetic systematics are perhaps some of the most effective tools that we can apply to this global scale problem. The primary focus of the work in my laboratory is the study of arthropod diversity. Arachnids and myriapods are the main study organisms I utilize with a particular emphasis on spiders of the infraorder Mygalmorphae (trapdoor spiders, tarantulas, & their relatives) and millipedes of the order Spirobolida. Although millipedes and trapdoor spiders are nontraditional evolutionary models they are ideal candidates for evolutionary studies because of their limited dispersal capabilities and thus tendency to become easily, and apparently quickly, isolated. My work on spiders and millipedes spans a number of hierarchical levels; in addition to being interested in higher level classification issues in spiders and millipedes I am also interested in alpha taxonomy, and use the insights gained in this most basic, yet important work, to consider questions about speciation process. Because evolutionary diversification is a complex, multifaceted process, the study of it, at all levels, requires an integrated phylogenetic approach. By using the insights gained through comparative morphology, molecular evolution, biogeography, ecology, and morphometrics, within the context of an explicit phylogenetic framework, I attempt to address questions regarding the pattern and process of diversification in these very interesting groups of organisms.