Office Address: 210 PLSB
Lab: 434 982-5218

Education

B.S., Queen's University, 1986
M.S., Queen's University, 1988
Ph.D., Duke University, 1993

Research Interests

My students, post-docs and I study population genetics and molecular evolution. We are studying invasive species as models for the evolution of geographic range expansion. We also study how evolution is influenced by the fact that populations are distributed in space (population structure). Several projects focus on how selection at one level or organization subsumes, or is subsumed by, selection at higher levels of organization...so-called "levels of selection". This has led us into studies of genetic conflict such as epidemics of selfish genes within natural populations and mitochondrial diseases that result from the accumulation of parasitic organelles within cells. Our work involves a wide variety of methods: phylogenetics & molecular population genetics, field experiments, greenhouse experiments & crossing studies, theory.

For more information on research interests, see my lab webpage.

Representative Publications

The Silene latifolia genome and its giant Y chromosome
C Moraga, C Branco, Q Rougemont, P Veltsos, P Jedlička, A Muyle, ...
BioRxiv, 2023.09. 21.558754

Rapid shifts in mitochondrial tRNA import in a plant lineage with extensive mitochondrial tRNA gene loss
JM Warren, T Salinas-Giegé, DA Triant, DR Taylor, L Drouard, DB Sloan
Molecular Biology and Evolution 38 (12), 5735-5751

Cyto-nuclear linkage disequilibrium resulting from admixture
PD Fields, DE McCauley, DR Taylor
bioRxiv, 2020.11. 24.396903

Population history and the differential consequences of inbreeding and outcrossing in a plant metapoplation
PD Fields, G Arnold, JM Kniskern, DR Taylor
bioRxiv, 2020.11. 24.386946

Ecological contributions to body shape evolution in salamanders of the genus Eurycea (Plethodontidae)
HA Edgington, DR Taylor
Plos one 14 (5), e0216754

Effect of the anther‐smut fungus Microbotryum on the juvenile growth of its host Silene latifolia
J Antonovics, JL Abbate, EL Bruns, PD Fields, NJ Forrester, KJ Gilbert, ...
American journal of botany 105 (6), 1088-1095

Positive selection in rapidly evolving plastid–nuclear enzyme complexes
K Rockenbach, JC Havird, JG Monroe, DA Triant, DR Taylor, DB Sloan
Genetics 204 (4), 1507-1522

Cyto‐nuclear discordance suggests complex evolutionary history in the cave‐dwelling salamander, Eurycea lucifuga
HA Edgington, CM Ingram, DR Taylor
Ecology and Evolution 6 (17), 6121-6138

Elevational divergence and clinal variation in floral color and leaf chemistry in Silene vulgaris
AE Berardi, PD Fields, JL Abbate, DR Taylor
American Journal of Botany 103 (8), 1508-1523

Investigating past range dynamics for a weed of cultivation, Silene vulgaris
ME Sebasky, SR Keller, DR Taylor
Ecology and Evolution 6 (14), 4800-4811

Scale dependence of sex ratio in wild plant populations: implications for social selection
BJ Sanderson, ME Augat, DR Taylor, ED Brodie III
Ecology and evolution 6 (5), 1411-1419

The massive mitochondrial genome of the angiosperm Silene noctiflora is evolving by gain or loss of entire chromosomes
Z Wu, JM Cuthbert, DR Taylor, DB Sloan
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112 (33), 10185-10191

Determinants of Genetic Structure in a Nonequilibrium Metapopulation of the Plant Silene latifolia
PD Fields, DR Taylor
Plos One 9 (9), e104575

Recent admixture generates heterozygosity–fitness correlations during the range expansion of an invading species
SR Keller, PD Fields, AE Berardi, DR Taylor
Journal of evolutionary biology 27 (3), 616-627

A recurring syndrome of accelerated plastid genome evolution in the angiosperm tribe Sileneae (Caryophyllaceae)
DB Sloan, DA Triant, NJ Forrester, LM Bergner, M Wu, DR Taylor
Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 72, 82-89

Cytonuclear interactions and relaxed selection accelerate sequence evolution in organelle ribosomes
DB Sloan, DA Triant, M Wu, DR Taylor
Molecular Biology and Evolution 31 (3), 673-682

Patterns of cyto-nuclear linkage disequilibrium in Silene latifolia: genomic heterogeneity and temporal stability
PD Fields, DE McCauley, EV McAssey, DR Taylor
Heredity 112 (2), 99-104

Evolution of conflict and cooperation of nematodes associated with solitary and social sweat bees
QS McFrederick, TH Roulston, DR Taylor
Insectes sociaux 60, 309-317

Evolutionary history of nematodes associated with sweat bees
QS McFrederick, DR Taylor
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 66 (3), 847-856

Intraspecific variation in mitochondrial genome sequence, structure, and gene content in Silene vulgaris, an angiosperm with pervasive cytoplasmic male sterility
DB Sloan, K Müller, DE McCauley, DR Taylor, H Štorchová
New Phytologist 196 (4), 1228-1239