Whitney B Leach

Understanding how populations diverge is one of the oldest and most compelling questions in evolutionary biology. An in depth understanding of how this process operates in planktonic marine animals, where...

Background: In cnidarians, antagonistic interactions with predators and prey are mediated by their venom, whose synthesis may be metabolically expensive. The potentially high cost of venom production has been hypothesized...

Extreme environmental gradients represent excellent study systems to better understand the variables that mediate patterns of genomic variation between populations. They also allow for more accurate predictions of how future...

Background: Animals have specific molecular, physiological, and behavioral responses to light that are influenced by wavelength and intensity. Predictable environmental changes - predominantly solar and lunar cycles - drive endogenous...

Microbes can play an important role in the physiology of animals by providing essential nutrients, inducing immune pathways, and influencing the specific species that compose the microbiome through competitive or...

Organismal responses to light:dark cycles can result from two general processes: (a) direct response to light or (b) a free-running rhythm (i.e., a circadian clock). Previous research in cnidarians has...