Headed by Greg Sword, research in the Molecular Ecology Lab ranges from molecular genetics and behaviour to landscape scale ecology and phylogenetics. We utilise a variety of ecological, behavioral, and molecular techniques to examine processes operating across multiple spatial and temporal scales.
Our work addresses a variety of major topics in ecology and evolution including migration, collective movement, phenotypic plasticity, the evolution of warning coloration (aposematism) and plant-herbivore interactions.
Please see the Research and Publications pages for more detailed information about the lab's activities.
Here's a
Mormon cricket
migratory band in
action.
It doesn't get much cooler than this:
Unless, perhaps, you
are in Australia and get the chance to see a migratory band
of Australian Plague locusts like this:
***Thanks to Peter Spurgin of the APLC for the Locusta migratoria swarm photo and Jerome Buhl for Australian Plague locust video.