Brian D. Farrell
Professor of Biology, Curator of Entomology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology,
Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Faculty Dean of Leverett House of Harvard College
Faculty Support: Amie Jones
Much of our work tests hypotheses concerning the influence of spatial and temporal variation in the availability of habitats or other resources on speciation and the rate of evolution of interspecific interactions. Our data are largely phylogenetic, based on variation in DNA sequences and morphological characters, and our studies vary in focus from principally ecological dimensions of resource use to emphasis on biogeographic or paleontological dimensions. Our general goal to understand the interplay of adaptation and historical contingency in ecological and taxonomic diversification, as well as the marks of evolutionary history on community structure. The context of nearly all of our studies is the interaction between insects and plants, ecological associates whose diversity and abundance make them the principal denizens of the terrestrial earth.
Recent Publications
Farrell BD. 2016. Music and Nature: From Humpbacks to Harvard. ReVista : Harvard Review of Latin America. 15 (2) :2-4
Mckenna DD, Farrell BD, Caterino MS, Farnum CW, Hawks DC, Maddison DR, Seago AE, Short AEZ, Newton AF, Thayer MK. 2015. Phylogeny and evolution of Staphyliniformia and Scarabaeiformia: forest litter as a stepping stone for diversification of nonphytophagous beetles. Systematic Entomology. 40 (1) :35-60
Courses Taught
OEB 10: Foundations of Biological Diversity
OEB 341: Coevolution
FRSEMR 22T: Why We Animals Sing
BIOS S-158: Study Abroad in the Dominican Republic: Biodiversity of the Dominican Republic
Contact Information
26 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138