Projects
Some of my recent/on-going foci are listed below, but I'm also interested in the evolution of migration and the effects of habitat variation on physiology among populations or sister species, among other things (see publications)
Systematics and biogeography, and phylogeography of African songbirds: With Dr. Rauri Bowie (UC-Berkeley) and Dr. Guin Wogan (Oklahoma State), my lab continues our long-term efforts to develop phylogenies of African songbird genera, to determine relationships and develop biogeographic histories, often in the context of geological and climate history. More recently we've been investigating how genetic variation (if present) in a suite of bird species is distributed across southern African arid-lands; again in the context of geography and historical climate change patterns. This work has been funded several times by NSF.
We also explore how genetic variation is distributed in Afro-tropical forest birds. This was the focus of (now Dr.) Jerry Huntley's dissertation research.
In addition to research products, this project has also generated over 1,800 specimens for the BRTC. This work has produced a lengthy series of papers over the past few decades (see publications), and will continue for years to come.
Microbiomes of a suite of birds collected in heavy agricultural use areas (specifically cotton) versus areas never under agriculture: This is a collaboration with Dr. Sergei Drovetski (US Geological Survey). This is a Texas-based project, and to date we have sampled Northern Bobwhite and Scaled Quail (both species have functional ceca), Mourning Dove, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Northern Mockingbird, and Northern Cardinal. We have metatranscriptomics data from mockingbird ileums, and are working on papers related to prokaryotic richness and the virome (viruses).
Phylogeography and systematics of Eurasian birds : I also work in collaboration with Dr. Sergei Drovetski (US Geological Survey) and Drs. Marco Pavia, Irene Pelegrino and Giovanni Boano (respectively: University of Torino, University of Piemontese Orientale and Natural History Museum of Carmagnola, all in Italy) on the phylogeography and systematics of selected bird species, for which we have extensive samples from Europe, Armenia and Russia.
Material from our 2018 expedition to Sardinia and 2019 expedition to Sicily and Calabria has provided new comparative material that will 1) allow us to assess the validity of described subspecies, and 2) provide an additional locality for our ongoing assessments of biogeographic patterns and lineage diversification in birds distributed across known glacial refugia around the Mediterranean Sea.
An increasing number of papers have resulted from this collaboration (see publications).
Avian Malaria: We've extended our work on birds to looking at their parasites as well. Projects on malaria include investigating the distribution and prevalence of avian malaria across Africa (D.R. Congo, Benin, Malawi and South Africa) and most recently in the western Palearctic (Sardinia results to left). Part of this research includes assessing bio-climatic variables as they impact host and parasite distributions.
Additional papers on this topic will be focused on Sicily, and the Italian mainland from where we have thousands of samples distributed across much of the country.
Avian Lice: My colleague Dr. Jessica Light (also WFSC) and I are investigating the distribution and prevalence of avian lice on their hosts. While this research has largely been focused across Africa (Benin, D.R. Congo, and South Africa), recent bird expeditions to Italy have now provided material from Sardinia. This research complements other African and European work in my lab in terms of systematics and biogeography, and extends/maximizes the use of birds we collect or net-sample-and-release. Most recently, Light Master’s student Oona Takano led the effort to examine avian louse diversity from birds sampled across diverse South African habitats. Several papers have resulted from this collaboration (see publications).
Genetic diversity and malaria parasite associations of birds on the Sky Islands of Northern Mexico and West Texas: With Dr. Ricardo Canales and his lab at the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, PhD student Katrina Keith and I are assessing whether threatened and rare bird species are undergoing genetic bottlenecks (as indicated by a lack of diversity in Toll-like genes, which are related to the immune system) and whether such bottlenecks might be associated with malarial parasite infections. Determinations of avian host-malarial parasite relationships are also part of the research.