Patrik Nosil

Assistant Professor

patrik.nosil@colorado.edu
303-492-2880
Ramaley C105
Nosil Lab

Ph.D., Simon Fraser University, 2006

Research Interests

My primary research focuses on the evolutionary processes driving and constraining the formation of new species (speciation). In particular, I am interested in the role of adaptation to new ecological environments, via natural selection, in the speciation process. Related interests concern the impact of natural selection on genomic divergence, predator-prey interactions, and macro-evolutionary patterns of character evolution. Various data are used to address these topics, including field observations, manipulative field experiments, laboratory experiments, and molecular data from both genotypic and DNA sequence data. The molecular work spans a range of sub-disciplines, including evolutionary genetics, population genetics, population genomics, and phylogenetics. I also aim to combine and integrate these empirical studies with theoretical work and comparative analyses. My research has focused on host-plant adaptation and speciation of herbivorous insects (particularly Timema walking-stick insects in California), although I have also worked with freshwater stickleback fishes and am interested in exploring non-insect systems.

Recent Publications

Nosil, P., D. Ortiz-Barrientos and D.J. Funk. 2008. Divergent selection and heterogeneous genomic divergence. Mol. Ecol. in press.

Nosil, P., S.P. Egan and D.J. Funk. 2008. Heterogeneous genomic differentiation between walking-stick ecotypes: ‘isolation by adaptation’ and multiple roles for divergent selection. Evolution 62: 316-336.

Nosil, P. 2007. Divergent host-plant adaptation and reproductive isolation between ecotypes of Timema cristinae. Am. Nat. 169: 151-162.

Nosil, P. and B.J. Crespi. 2006. Experimental evidence that predation promotes divergence during adaptive radiation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 9090-9095.

Funk, D.J., P. Nosil and B. Etges. 2006. Ecological divergence exhibits consistently positive associations with reproductive isolation across disparate taxa. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 3209-3213.

Nosil, P., B.J. Crespi, C.P. Sandoval and M. Kirkpatrick. 2006. Migration and the genetic covariance between habitat preference and performance. Am. Nat. 167: E66-E78.

Nosil, P. and A. Mooers. 2005. Testing hypotheses about ecological specialization using phylogenetic trees. Evolution 59: 2256-2263.

Nosil, P., T. Vines and D.J. Funk. 2005. Perspective: Reproductive isolation caused by natural selection against immigrants from divergent habitats. Evolution 59: 705-719.

Rundle, H. and P. Nosil. 2005. Ecological speciation. Ecol. Letters 8: 336-352.

Reimchen, T.E. and P. Nosil. 2004. Variable predation regimes predict the evolution of sexual dimorphism in a population of threespine stickleback. Evolution 58: 1274-1281.

Nosil, P., B.J. Crespi and C.P. Sandoval. 2002. Host-plant adaptation drives the parallel evolution of reproductive isolation. Nature 417: 440-443.