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

Altman, G. H. and B. D. Farrell (2022). Sericulture as a sustainable agroindustry. Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy 2: 100011.

Chamorro, M. L., B. A. S. de Medeiros and B. D. Farrell (2021). First phylogenetic analysis of Dryophthorinae (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) based on structural alignment of ribosomal DNA reveals Cenozoic diversification. Ecol Evol 11(5): 1984-1998.

De Medeiros, B. A. S. and B. D. Farrell (2020). Evaluating insect-host interactions as a driver of species divergence in palm flower weevils. Communications Biology 3(1): 749.

Pérez-de la Fuente, R., A. Gehler, C. W. Farnum and B. D. Farrell (2019). Digitisation as a tool to promote transparency between collections: the case of the Baltic amber from the Königsberg collection at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology 34(1): 145-151.

Fernández, E., I. Ferreras, B. D. Farrell, B. A. S. De Medeiros and G. A. Romero-González (2019). Studies in Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae) of Hispaniola. Phytotaxa 420(1): 1-20.

De Medeiros, B. A. S., L. A. Núñez-Avellaneda, A. M. Hernandez and B. D. Farrell (2019). Flower visitors of the licuri palm (Syagrus coronata): brood pollinators coexist with a diverse community of antagonists and mutualists. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 126(4): 666-687.

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