The Pfennig lab studies the ecological, evolutionary, and developmental causes of diversity.   We are particularly interested in the following general questions:

1. (1)How do complex, novel traits arise?
   

2. (2)How and why do living things diversify?
   

3. (3)How and why do organisms identify their kin?
   

4. (4)What are the causes and consequences of mimicry?
   

To address these questions, we use a variety of approaches, including field and lab experimentation and observation, population genetic surveys of natural populations, and phylogenetic analyses.  Much of our work focuses on organisms (primarily, but not exclusively, amphibians) that display polyphenism, where a single genome produces two or more alternative phenotypes in response to an environmental cue.

For more details about our lab, click on the various links at the top of this page.