Pacific blue eye ( Pseudomugil signifer), Australia. A multidisciplinary approach combining mate choice experiments and molecular phylogeography provided insights into the divergence of mate recognition traits in this species. Photo: David Nelson Mate recognition and the speciation process
Reproductive isolation is a cornerstone of the speciation process. Traits important in allowing individuals to recognise members of their own species often vary spectacularly across a species’ geographic range (due, for example, to factors such as adaptation to local environmental conditions, sexual selection, genetic drift, and/or founder effects). The resulting divergence of recognition traits has the potential to lead to pre-mating reproductive isolation between populations. I am interested in testing how patterns of divergence might lead to reproduction isolation, and how this isolation might contribute to the process of speciation. I am also interested in how female and male mating decisions can maintain or disrupt the integrity of the species unit. My approach to these issues is often multidisciplinary. In the past, for example, I have combined conventional mate choice experiments with the relatively recent field of molecular phylogeography to pick suitable populations for study.
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