Hybridization, speciation, evolutionary ecology, and population genomics (primarily of birds). My research applies genomics and field experiments to natural hybrid zones and closely related taxa in order to investigate the architecture of reproductive isolation—the hallmark of speciation—and the genetic bases of traits relevant to speciation. This research also provides insight into the impacts of anthropogenic change, including climate change, on species distributions, interactions, and evolution.
Selected Publications
Semenov G, Linck E, Enbody E, Harris R, Khaydarov D, Alström P, Andersson L, Taylor SA. Asymmetric introgression reveals the genetic architecture of a plumage trait. Nature Communications 12, Article number: 1019. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21340-y
Funk ER, Spellman GM, Winker K, Withrow JJ, Ruegg KC, Zavaleta E, Taylor SA. Accepted. Phylogenomic Data Reveal Widespread Introgression Across the Range of an Alpine and Arctic Specialist. Systematic Biology. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaa071
Wagner DN, Curry RL, Chen N, Lovette IJ, Taylor SA. 2020. Genomic regions underlying metabolic and neuronal signaling pathways are temporally consistent outliers in a moving avian hybrid zone. Evolution. 74: 1498-1513.
Taylor SA, Larson EL. 2019. Insights from genomes into the evolutionary importance and prevalence of hybridization in nature. Nature Ecology and Evolution 3, 170-177. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0777-y
Theodosopoulos AN, Hund AK, Taylor SA. 2018. Parasites and host species barriers in animal hybrid zones. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 34: 19-30.
Grabenstein KC, Taylor SA. 2018. Breaking Barriers: Causes, Consequences, and Experimental Utility of Human-Mediated Hybridization. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 33(3), 198–212. doi.org/10.1016/J.TREE.2017.12.008
+Toews DPL, +Taylor SA, Vallender R, Brelsford A, Butcher BG, Messer PW, Lovette IJ. 2016. Plumage genes and little else distinguish the genomes of hybridizing warblers. Current Biology 26: 2313-2318.
Taylor SA, Larson EL, Harrison RG. 2015. Hybrid Zones: Windows on Climate Change. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 30: 398-406.
Mason NA, Taylor SA. 2015. Differentially expressed genes match morphology and plumage despite largely homogeneous genomes in a Holarctic songbird. Molecular Ecology 24: 3009 - 3025
Taylor SA, Curry RL, White TA, Ferretti V, Lovette IJ. 2014. Spatiotemporally consistent genomic signatures of reproductive isolation in a moving hybrid zone. Evolution 68: 3066-3081.
Taylor SA, White TA, Hochachka WM, Ferretti V, Curry RL, Lovette IJ. 2014. Climate Mediated Movement of an Avian Hybrid Zone. Current Biology 24: 671-676.