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Ian Wang
ijwang@ucdavis.edu
Degrees:
BA, Cornell University, 2004.
Publications:
Wang I. J. and Shaffer H. B. (in press). Coloration is a highly labile trait in an aposematic species: a phylogenetic analysis of color evolution in the strikingly polymorphic strawberry poison-dart frog. Evolution.
Wang I. J., Crawford A. J., and Bermingham E. Phylogeography of the Pygmy Rain Frog (Pristimantis ridens) across the lowland wet forests of Isthmian Central America. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 47: 992-1004 |
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Research:
I study the role of landscapes and environments on population structure,
gene flow, divergence, and adaptation in amphibians. My major research
interests lie in three areas within this general framework: 1) the
evolution of phenotypic polymorphism, particularly in aposematic traits, 2)
Central American phylogeography, and 3) landscape genetics. I work
primarily with poison-dart frogs (Dendrobatidae) in Panama and Costa Rica
and also maintain research programs on the California tiger salamander
(Ambystoma californiense) and the western toad species complex (Bufo
boreas, B. canorus, B. exsul) in North America.
I am particularly interested in color variation in nature and employ a
variety of approaches, including phylogenetic, population genetic, and
biochemical analyses, to investigate the environmental and evolutionary
mechanisms that can generate phenotypic polymorphism in natural
populations. In the strawberry poison-dart frog (Dendrobates pumilio),
which displays perhaps the most striking color polymorphism of any
amphibian, I've uncovered that this variation was the result of frequent
evolutionary shifts between different colors instead of a phylogenetically
conservative pattern of changes.
I am also especially interested in developing new landscape genetic methods
that integrate traditional population genetic approaches with modern GIS
analyses. To this extent, my work on California toads and salamanders has
focused on the uses of least cost path analysis for inferring
inter-population migration corridors and the costs of movement through
different habitats.
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