Robin Hopkins

Faculty Support: Meri Petollari

A major goal of evolutionary biology is to understand the process of speciation. Of particular interest is evaluating the role of natural selection in causing diverging populations to become species. Addressing these goals entails investigating fundamental questions of evolutionary biology such as: What is the genetic basis of adaptations? What is the role of migration and genetic drift during the evolution of traits? What is the strength of selection acting on an adaptive allele? And what is the mechanism underlying selection? My work incorporates molecular biology, population genetic analyses, and field-based selection experiments to address these questions. My research examines speciation in plants, predominantly focused on reinforcement, the process in which reduced hybrid fitness generates selection for the evolution of reproductive isolation between emerging species. I use an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates functional molecular biology experiments, population genetic analyses, pollinator behavior trials, and field reciprocal transplant experiments.

Recent Publications

Burgin, G.A., Roda, F., Farnitano, M.C., Hale, C., Serrato-Capuchina, A., Hopkins, R. In Press. The genetic architecture of quantitative variation in the self-incompatibility response within Phlox drummondii (Polemoniaceae). Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyaf132.

McKenzie, P.F., Church, S.H., Hopkins, R. In Press. High throughput iNaturalist image analysis reveals flower color divergence in Monarda fistulosa. The American Naturalist.  https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.21.655392 

Blumstein, M., Webster, S., Hopkins, R., Basler, D., Des Marais, D.L. 2025. Genomics highlight an underestimation of the urban heat island effect on red oak phenology. PNAS 121(12), e2408564122.

McKenzie, P.F., Berardi, A.E., Hopkins, R. 2025. A massive community-science dataset reveals convergent evolution of delayed flowering phenology in North American red-flowering plants. Current Biology 35(9), 2175-2182.

Burgin, G. A., Bronzo-Munich, O., Garner, A.G., Acevedo, I.A., Hopkins, R. 2024. Characterizing each step of pollination in Phlox drummondii reveals a single butterfly species predominates the pollinator assemblage. American Journal of Botany 110 (5), e16172. DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16172.

Feller, A.F., Burgin, G., Lewis, N.F., Prabhu, R., Hopkins, R. 2024. Mismatch between pollen and pistil size causes asymmetric mechanical reproductive isolation across Phlox species. Evolution 78 (12), 1936-1948.

Goulet-Scott, B.E., Farnitano, M.C., Brown, A.L., Hale, C.O., Blumstein, M., Hopkins, R. 2024. A multi-dimensional selective landscape drives adaptive divergence between and within closely related Phlox species. Nature Communications 15(1), 4661. 

Garner, A.G., Goulet-Scott, B.E., Hopkins, R. 2024. Phylogenomic analyses re-examine the evolution of reinforcement and hypothesized hybrid speciation in Phlox wildflowers. New Phytologist 243 (1), 451-465.

Burgin, G., Hopkins, R. 2022. A missing link: connecting plant and pollinator population genetic structure. American Journal of Botany 100 (5): 668-671. 

Goulet-Scott, B.E., Garner, A.G., Hopkins, R.  2021. Genomic analyses overturn two long-standing homoploid hybrid speciation hypotheses. Evolution 75(7):1699-1710 

Blumstein, M., Richardson, A., Weston, D., Zhang, J., Muchero, W., Hopkins, R. 2020. A new perspective on ecological prediction reveals limits to climate adaptation in a temperate tree species. Current Biology 30:1447-1453.

Roda, F., Hopkins, R. 2019. Correlated evolution of self and interspecific incompatibility across the range of a Texas wildflower. New Phytologist 221(1): 553-564.

Suni, S., Hopkins, R. 2018. The relationship between post-mating reproductive isolation and reinforcement in Phlox. Evolution 72(7):1387-1398.