I'm at UC Davis through the summer of 2006, but you can get a preview of my lab at the University of Rochester at www.lacertilia.com.
 Conducting field work on anole lizards in Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic |
CPB Postdoctoral Fellow Center for Population Biology University of California, Davis Davis, CA 95616 Phone (lab): 530-754-7694 Phone (mobile): 530-220-0278 E-mail: reglor(at)ucdavis.edu |
 On a pilgrimage to Mauna Kea to see silverswords (Argyroxiphium sandwicense) |
The Evolution of Species Richness in Adaptive Radiations
Biologists have always been fascinated by the spectacular diversity of life on earth. My research addresses two fundamental questions related to the evolution of this diversity: (1) What processes contribute to the formation of new species? and (2) What factors underlie macroevolutionary patterns of species diversity? My approach to answering these questions relies on studies of adaptive radiations and integrates molecular genetic, ecological, and museum-based studies.
My work on speciation is focused on several longstanding controversies, such as the geographic context of speciation and the role of natural selection in this process. My empirical work on speciation in the adaptive radiation of Anolis lizards integrates phylogenetic and population genetic analyses and employs a range of molecular markers (e.g. mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data, microsatellites).
In addition to understanding how species form, it is also important to understand the processes that contribute to patterns of species diversity. My studies in this area investigate the contribution of numerous factors that are tought to contribute to species diversity (e.g. ecological specialization, population structure, geographic area, and evolutionary age). This work integrates molecular phylogenetic, morphometric and ecological data into a comparative framework. I am also investigating patterns of niche spread that may be general features of vertebrate radiations, and their implications for the the ecological theory of adaptive radiation.
| Photos From Recent Fieldwork | ||||||
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Coming soon: Brazil 2003, Jamaica 2003, Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico/Jamaica 2004, Australia 2004
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 A trunk anole (Anolis distichus) from La Palma, a montane locality in the Dominican Republic made famous by the classic ecological studies of Stan Rand and Ernest Williams. |
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| Mexico/Belize - Spring 2003 | Cuba - Summer 2002 | Puerto Rico - Summer 2002 | Dominican Republic - 2001 | Chile - Spring 2001 | Jamaica - Winter 2000/01 | |
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| Cuba - Summer 1999 | Timber rattlers in Missouri - 2001 | Missouri Glades | Eastern North American salamanders | Los Haitises National Park after hurricane Georges 1999 | Fauna of Los Haitises, DR | |
Selected Publications (complete list)
Revell, L. J., L. J. Harmon, R. E. Glor. In Press. Under-parameterized model of sequence evolution leads to biased estimates of diversification rate in molecular phylogenies. Systematic Biology.
Knouft, J. H., J. B. Losos, R. E. Glor, J. J. Kolbe. In Press. Phylogenetic analysis of the evolution of the niche and of species associations in lizards of the Anolis sagrei group. Ecology.
Nicholson, K. E., R. E. Glor, J. J. Kolbe, A. Larson, S. B. Hedges, J. B. Losos. 2005. Mainland colonization by and island species. Journal of Biogeography 32:929-938. PDF
Glor, R. E., A. Larson, J. B. Losos. 2005. Out of Cuba: overwater dispersal and speciation among lizards in the Anolis carolinensis subgroup. Molecular Ecology 14:2419-2432. PDF
Glor, R. E., M. E. Gifford, A. Larson, J. B. Losos, L. Rodriguez-Schettino, A. R. Chamizo-Lara, and T. R. Jackman. 2004. Partial island submergence and speciation in an adaptive radiation: A multilocus analysis of the Cuban green anoles. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 271:2257-2265. PDF
Kolbe, J. J, R. E. Glor, L. Rodriguez-Schettino, A. R. Chamizo-Lara, A. Larson, and J. B. Losos. 2004. Genetic variation increases during the biological invasion of a Cuban lizard. Nature 431:177-181. PDF
Glor, R. E., J. J. Kolbe, R. Powell, A. Larson, J. B. Losos. 2003. Phylogenetic analysis of ecological and morphological diversification in Hispaniolan trunk-ground anoles (Anolis cybotes group). Evolution 57:2383-2397. PDF
Losos, J. B, M. Leal, R. E. Glor, K. de Queiroz, P. E. Hertz, L. Rodríguez Schettino, A. Chamizo Lara, T. R. Jackman, and A. Larson. 2003. Niche lability in the evolution of a Caribbean lizard community. Nature 424:542-545. PDF
Losos, J. B. and R. E. Glor. 2003. Phylogenetic comparative methods and the geography of speciation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:220-227. PDF
Glor, R. E., L. J. Vitt, and A. Larson. 2001. A molecular phylogenetic analysis of diversification in Amazonian Anolis lizards. Molecular Ecology 10:2661-2668. PDF
Glor, R. E., A.S. Flecker, M.F. Benard, and A.G. Power. 2001. Lizard diversity and agricultural disturbance in a Caribbean forest landscape. Biodiversity and Conservation 10:711-723. PDF
Links
The Losos Lab: my old home
The Shaffer Lab: my current home
Research discussed on this page has been supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recomendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).