Evolution ◆ Biophysics ◆ Computation
Nature is interdisciplinary. To best understand and protect the natural world, we need to bring together methods from applied physics, evolutionary theory, computational science, and ecology. We are interested in strange animals, biophotonics, and game-theoretical conflicts of interest in evolution. Right now, we focus on solar-powered animals such as corals, anemones, bivalve mollusks, and other reef creatures to learn about (i) the biophotonics of photosynthesis, (ii) host-symbiont evolutionary conflict, and (iii) coral bleaching. Our other projects range from “super black” color in birds and spiders to genetic conflicts in human pregnancy.
We use field work, lab work, and computational optics to understand how solar energy and evolutionary conflict influence coral reef ecosystems and their breakdown through coral bleaching. Specifically, we research how photosymbiotic animals– corals, anemones, bivalve mollusks, and more– harness sunlight with photonic adaptations at the nano-, micro-, and macro-scale. We test evolutionary hypotheses by characterizing these photonic adaptations, combining high performance optical simulations with evolutionary theory and advanced material characterization. Further, we quantify host-symbiont conflict through metrics such as nutrient allocation, reproductive mode, and more.
Pregnancy is an amazing time of life in which two or more genetic individuals inhabit the same body. These different individuals must navigate various conflicts of interest. We research the causes and consequences of evolutionary conflict in pregnancy, using data analysis, molecular evolution tools, and evolutionary theory. For example, just as female birds screen potential mates under many metrics, human mothers unconsciously screen embryos for quality. ‘Examinees’ are under intense selection to improve test performance by exaggerating formerly ‘honest’ signals of quality. By the ‘proxy treadmill’, new honest indicators arise while old degraded indicators linger, resulting in trait elaboration. Hormone signals during pregnancy show extreme evolutionary escalation (akin to elaborate mating displays). Other model systems, such as marmoset monkeys, illustrate other arenas of conflict.
Male birds-of-paradise, perhaps nature’s most ornate and elaborate creatures, evolved ultra-dark super black that frames their brilliant color. Unlike typical feathers, the feathers of super black plumages have 3-D microstructures on their barbules which multiply scatter, and iteratively absorb, nearly all light. Indeed, super black plumages evolved convergently in birds from 15 families, with diverse morphology underpinning the plumages. Peacock spiders are strange little creatures with elaborate displays akin to the birds-of-paradise. They, too, evolved ultra-dark black color adjacent to their brilliant color patches, but they use different structures to achieve antireflection. Peacock spiders are a remarkable convergence of form– microlenses, used in nature on everything from plant leaves to moth eyes– and function– ultra black near bright color for color emphasis, akin to their ecological analogues (the Birds-of-Paradise).