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News
SEPTEMBER 2009 See our new article on community monopolization in Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Teaching a new limnology course
MAY 2009 Ponds dry . . . And then fill up again
MARCH 2009 kicks off
DECEMBER 2008 See my new article on ecological genetics in the Encyclopedia of Life Sciences
The article, The evolutionary ecology of metacommunities, rated the #1 hottest article in TREE (Apr. - Sept. 2008)
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Home I study the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that shape natural communities across multiple spatial scales. Across natural landscapes, the local dynamics of community interactions can be shaped both by local conditions and by migration from nearby communities. At the same time, local adaptation and maladaptation due to regional gene flow can alter the outcome of species interactions. My research focuses on this interface between migration-niche-partitioning and migration-selection dynamics in a regional context. This research seeks to answer fundamental questions about how migration and gene flow across heterogeneous landscapes shape local species interactions, patterns of community diversity and structure, the evolutionary divergence of interacting populations, the invasion success of introduced species, and responses of communities to disturbance. Most of my work focuses on aquatic systems, which are ideal systems in which to study these questions because of their patchy distribution across natural landscapes.
I apply a variety of approaches to address these questions, including old-fashioned field work, experiments performed across a variety of scales, and theoretical models ranging in complexity from simple analytical models to complex individual-based simulations. For more specific information, see my Projects page.
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Contact Information:
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Connecticut 75 N. Eagleville Rd., Unit 3043 Storrs, CT 06269-3043
Phone: 860-486-6113 Lab: 860-486-6154 Fax: 860-486-6364 E-mail: mark.urban(at)uconn.edu
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