Ne of Science's greatest challenges is to understand the origins of biological diversity in nature. As pointed out by the eminent biologist Ernst Mayr, biodiversity has both proximate (e.g., genetic) and ultimate (evolutionary) causes. The Dopman lab applies a unified conceptual framework to investigate both forms of causation through a combination of experimental and comparative studies, and by drawing on various approaches, including population genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, and molecular genetics. Although we focus on long-standing problems in evolutionary biology, we use modern tools and techniques to advance our research goals (e.g., DNA microarrays, next-generation sequencing).
