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 Gregory K. Brown
 Professor, Botany

I am interested in all aspects of Bromeliaceae (pineapple family) biology, with phylogenetic studies being the core-focus of my research program. My students are exposed to, and generally utilize, a broad spectrum of techniques aimed at generating data sets (morphological, anatomical, developmental, molecular, cytological) appropriate for modern phylogenetic analyses. Field work is a vital component in all of these studies.

Ron Hartman
Professor, Botany

My research interests are as follows. The systematics of western North American Apiaceae (Cymopterus, Lomatium, related genera), Asteraceae (segregate genera of Haplopappus, Machaeranthera, etc.), and Caryophyllaceae (Drymaria, Minuartia, Pseudostellaria). The publication of a number of taxonomic novelties as well as taxonomic treatments for state and regional floras and the Flora of North America. Major emphasis has been on large-scale, intensive floristic inventories (~400,000 numbered collections) throughout the Rockies emphasizing biodiversity, biogeography, species of conservation concern, and invasives. An atlas of the plants of Wyoming is online. The ultimate goal is the production of a Flora of the Rocky Mountain region.

Stephen T. Jackson
Professor, Botany

My research program focuses on ecological and evolutionary responses to environmental change at timescales ranging from decades to millennia. I am particularly interested in linking dynamics across timescales -integrating ecological and evolutionary processes observed in "real time" with patterns inferred from the fossil records of the past 25,000 years, and examining patterns in fossil records from "deep time" (primarily Cenozoic) in the light of dynamics we see in the late Quaternary. Ongoing projects include: (1) Biogeography, ecology, genetics, and systematics of North American conifers (particularly spruces (Picea), junipers (Juniperus), and pines (Pinus)). These studies integrate paleoecological and ecological approaches, and include collaborations with geneticists and systematists. We are taking advantage of well-documented post-glacial migrations of several species in eastern and western North America to address a broad array of questions (e.g., genetic consequences of "great-leap" dispersal, patterns and rates of population spread and extirpation, history and dynamics of interspecies hybrid zones). (2) Comparison of dynamics across timescales. I am collaborating with "deep-time" paleobiologists in studies of early Cenozoic (Paleocene and Eocene) macrofloral and pollen sequences from Wyoming. These sequences (Hanna Basin and Green River Formation) provide unusually high temporal resolution, approaching that typical of Quaternary sequences. We will use these records to assess whether the environmental variability and community plasticity typical of the Quaternary is characteristic of the early Cenozoic.

Jason A. Lillegraven
Professor of Geology and Zoology

Using the tenets of organic and geologic evolution as a conceptual umbrella, I study the fossil record. My emphasis has been Mesozoic and early Tertiary mammals, especially those from the Rocky Mountains. In recent years I have been particularly involved in the use of fossils (mammals and plants) as biostratigraphic tools to dating events of the Laramide orogeny as seen in south central Wyoming. Methodologically, my focus with students has been the all-pervasive importance of linking biological and geological concepts in documentation and interpretation of change through time. Our work is specimen-based and data-rich.

Carlos Martinez del Rio
Associate Professor, Zoology

I am a functional ecologist that works at the interface between physiology and evolutionary ecology. I am interested in the physiological mechanisms that mediate ecological interactions. In the laboratory we study pollination, seed-dispersal, and mistletoe-host interactions. Because many of these interactions are mediated by food, the physiological traits that we investigate are those used by animals and plants to assimilate and metabolize nutrients and to detoxify noxious compounds. Our broad comparative (i.e. phylogenetic) and ecological approach allows not only discovering fundamental mechanisms (the usual task of physiologists), but also unraveling their ecological and evolutionary consequences. Perhaps more importantly, finding out how wild and unusual animals and plants work is accompanied by the satisfaction of bringing to light the marvelous functional diversity of life in the planet.

David McDonald
Assistant Professor, Zoology

I work at the intersection between 1) genetic structure of natural populations (using microsatellite DNA as a tool), 2) social systems, particularly sexual selection and mating systems, and 3) demographic structure of natural populations, particularly matrix-based approaches that focus on how age and social structure affect evolutionary and population dynamics. Currently my lab is focusing on the genetic structure of forest and alpine animals that show breaks across the gap between the southern Rockies (SE WY and south) and the central Rockies (NW WY and north). Study organisms include Leucosticte rosy-finches, Boreal Owls, black bears, and Burrowing Owls.

Steven L. Miller
Associate Professor, Botany

I am interested in the natural history of fungi, including aspects of their evolutionary biology, population genetics, biogeography and systematics.

R. Scott Seville
Associate Professor, Zoology

I am interested in the evolution of parasite life-history strategies, and the taxonomy and systematics of coccidians (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) that occur in wild squirrel hosts (Rodentia: Sciuridae).

Scott R. Shaw
Professor, Department of Renewable Resources

Systematics, ecology and behavior of parasitoid wasps; biological control; tropical biogeography; insect / plant interactions; systematics theory and methods; taxonomy and evolution of insects; classification of Hymenoptera (wasps) especially families Braconidae and Megalyridae.

Nancy Stanton
Professor, Zoology

I am interested in community structure and the evolution of biodiversity. Some of my interests and those of my students include Coccidian parasite communities in the Rodentia, the trophic structure of soil nematode communities, biodiversity of the Acari, systematics of Hemiptera: Anthocordae, pollinator/plant systems in shortgrass prairie, and small mammal diversity.