Lawrence J. Weider

faculty-staff.ou.edu/W/Lawrence.J.Weider-1/

Director, The University of Oklahoma Biological Station
Professor, The University of Oklahoma, Department of Zoology

Ph.D., 1984, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Evolutionary Ecology, Population/Ecological Genetics, Phylogeography, Evolutionary Biology of Parthenogens, Aquatic Ecology, Conservation Genetics and Biodiversity

RESEARCH STATEMENT
My research interests center on studying the mechanisms (e.g. selection, migration) that influence the maintenance of genetic diversity in asexual-sexual species complexes, using the freshwater cladoceran genus, Daphnia, as my primary model organism. My lab employs a variety of molecular (e.g. allozymes, mtDNA RFLPs, DNA sequencing) and ecological (e.g. life-table, selection experiments) techniques to examine how spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity influence levels of genetic variation in natural populations. Recent and current projects include: (i) a circumarctic analysis of the phylogeography and phylogenetics of the Daphnia pulex complex; (ii) examining the role that sediment egg banks of freshwater zooplankton play, as repositories of long-term (i.e. decades, centuries) genetic and ecological information; (iii) delving into the relationship between elemental composition (biological stoichiometry – C:N:P), ribosomal (r)DNA structure, growth rates, and selection, using the freshwater microcrustacean, Daphnia, as our model organism; (iv) ecology and genetics of invasive exotic species, primarily aquatic species such as the subtropical zooplankter, Daphnia lumholtzi.