Levi MorranAssociate Professor

Education

• B.S., Indiana University, 2004
• Ph.D., University of Oregon, 2009

Research Area

• Genetics, Cell, and Developmental Biology
• Population Biology, Evolution, and Ecology

Graduate Program Affiliation

• Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution

Research Description

The primary goal of our research is to identify and characterize factors that either facilitate or constrain adaptive evolution. We seek to determine the influence of such factors on the genetic architecture and evolutionary trajectories of populations. We utilize experimental evolution coupled with microbiology as a means to test evolutionary theory, which allows us to study the adaptive process in real-time at the phenotypic, genotypic, and genomic levels.

Research Description

We study sex and coevolution. We want to know why sex is so common in nature and how interactions between species alter the course of evolution.

Our current research explores both coevolutionary dynamics and mating system evolution as factors that influence and potentially dictate the role of adaptive evolution in populations. Coevolution accounts for a significant proportion of the evolutionary change that occurs in nature, while mating systems govern the distribution of genetic variation within and between lineages and populations. Therefore, both factors are fundamentally important to biology and our understanding of evolutionary change in nature.

Research Lab Description

We study sex and coevolution. We want to know why sex is so common in nature and how interactions between species alter the course of evolution.

Publications