Jeffry Mitton’s primary research interests focus on the evolutionary forces that influence genetic variation within and among populations. DNA sequences of mitochondrial, chloroplast, and nuclear genes, and electrophoretic variation of proteins are used to characterize variation in populations of plants and animals. Phylogeographic studies are used to describe patterns of variation and to make historical inferences about glacial refugia and routes of migration.
His current research projects include: Phylogeographies of ponderosa pine, limber pine, pinyon pine, aspen, and mistletoe, using both mtDNA and cpDNA markers, conservation genetics of cutthroat trout and northern pocket gophers, and dual uniparental inheritance of mtDNA in mussels and cryptic species of Brachidontes in the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and the Pacific.