Faculty & Staff
Lauren M. Mathews
Assistant Professor
Faculty Listing
Office: Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center, 4006
Phone: +1-508-831-5938
Fax: +1-508-831-5936
lmathews@wpi.edu
Educational Background
- B.A., Connecticut College, 1996
- Ph.D., University of Louisiana, 2001
- Postdoc, Columbia University, 2003
Research & Teaching Interests
Phylogeography; evolutionary processes; evolution of social behavior
Research
Research in my laboratory addresses a range of questions in the field of evolutionary ecology, generally through a combination of ecological or behavioral work and molecular genetic studies. Graduate and undergraduate projects in the following two areas of research focus are currently available. Student projects may involve benchwork in molecular genetics, fieldwork in ecology or animal behavior, or, most commonly, some combination of the two. Interested students should contact me by email or phone.
Phylogeography and evolutionary processes
Drastic human-induced declines in species numbers have placed a premium on our understanding of ecological systems and the origin and maintenance of biodiversity, and the long-term stability of ecological systems will require that management plans are informed by the evolutionary histories as well as by the current ecologies of managed systems. Consequently, understanding the complex mechanisms by which biodiversity is generated has become not only a goal of basic science, but also a tool of potentially great importance to how we manage our biological resources. To that end, a major goal of current research in my laboratory is to understand the geographic and evolutionary processes that affect and generate biological diversity, particularly in aquatic habitats.
In North America, freshwater faunas are particularly vulnerable to ecological changes because of heavy manipulation of habitats by human activity. In addition, North America harbors a substantial majority of the world's biodiversity in freshwater crayfish, many of which are considered to be species of conservation concern. Furthermore, biodiversity in this group may be poorly understood, and cryptic species may be common. For example, in southern New England, we have recently characterized a new species(Orconectes quinebaugi sp.nov.) which appatently occurs only in this region and may thus be relativley rare. It has long been confused with O. viriles, a widespread species that is invasive in New England. Ongoing research in my lab focuses on 1) developing a detailed picture of the movement of individuals (as measured by the movement of their genes) through the watershed and through time (over~5 years); 2) continued phylogeographic characterization of the O. virilis species complex over its broad North American range; and 3) testing hypotheses about the ecological interactions between O. quinebaugi and O. virilis, two species with nearly identical ecological niches. These projects all provide ample opportunities for graduate and undergraduate student involvement.
Evolution of social behavior
The evolution of social behavior has long been a topic of interest to biologists, but only recently have the tools of molecular genetics allowed us to link social and genetic relationships among individuals. These powerful new tools have allowed rapid advances in many fields of behavioral ecology, and play an important role in studies of social system evolution in my laboratory. In this area, research in my laboratory aims to understand how ecological and phylogenetic factors contribute to social evolution. My past work in this area has focused on the evolution of social monogamy in the marine shrimp genus Alpheus, in which individuals live in male-female pairs that co-defend a territory; In this research project, we have employed field and laboratory experiments and molecular genetic techniques for parentage assessment.
Currently, we are also using crayfish (O. quinebaugi) as a model for testing hypotheses about sexual selection and the evolution of male and female mate choice strategies. In crayfish, females bear most of the costs of reproduction, and males compete with one another for status in a dominance hierarchy, but the role of sexual selection on male dominance, and other male and female characters, is not well understood. We use both field data and laboratory experimants, including genetic analysis of family relationships, to test hypotheses about social behavior in this taxon.
Recent Publications
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