What evolutionary mechanisms maintain variation within populations? What are the consequences of selection for fitness and the genome? How does selection contribute to population divergence and, ultimately, speciation? My research combines classic experimental approaches with modern genomics techniques to address these long-standing questions about the mechanisms that shape biological diversity.
I am especially interested in how evolutionary conflict within- and between-individuals influences fitness and genomic diversity. Most of my research has focused on sexual conflict in the form of sperm competition and within-individual conflict in the form of meiotic drive. These kinds of conflict are hypothesized to fuel an evolutionary 'arms-race', with far-reaching implications for the origin of novel traits, maintenance of genetic variation, formation of species, and the evolution of the genome itself.