Our Research Foci

In our work we develop quantitative tools for understanding patterns of phenotypic evolution. Work revolves around several interrelated research themes: morphometrics, phylogenetic comparative biology, and biostatistics.

Morphometric Methods

A major focus of our research is advancing geometric morphometric methods. Here we develop quantitative methods for characterizing complex traits like shape, as derived from landmark data in two or three dimensions. We also derive analytical tools for summarizing patterns of shape variation, and evaluating these patterns using permutation-based statistical tools. Our work thus examines the fundamental underpinnings of geometric morphometrics, and proposes robust approaches for empiricists.

Multivariate Phylogenetic Comparative Methods

Another focus is developing analytical methods for studying the evolution of multivariate phenotypes. The evolution of multi-dimensional traits (such as shape) is complex, and considerable effort is required to properly merge the mathematical properties of such traits with the tenants of macroevolutionary theory. Our work in this regard has focused on developing new analytical methods that extend the underlying algebra of individual phylogenetic comparative methods, so that macroevolutionary hypotheses may be evaluated in high-dimensional multivariate datasets in the same manner as is presently accomplished with univariate data.

Permutational Biostatistics

All of our methodological developments require robust statistical approaches that can facilitate hypothesis testing with multivariate and high-dimensional datasets. To this end we further permutation-based statistical theory and analytics to provide researchers with the tools necessary to evaluate trends in their data.

Macroevolutionary Patterns and Processes

With my students and collaborators, we evaluate macroevolutionary hypotheses by investigating how ecological factors, such as species interactions and differences in ecological regime, affect patterns of morphological variation and diversification. We utilize a comparative phylogenetic approach to investigate these patterns, leveraging the analytical tools developed in our work.