If you are interested in joining the lab, feel free to contact Nico with your research interests. The organisms you ultimately choose are not as relevant as the hopefully exciting questions you plan to ask and answer.
The application deadline for UF Biology is every year on the 1st of December. See here for application details.
NEW: We are looking for PhD students to join our new 4 yrs NSF supported project, an interdisciplinary collaboration between evolutionary biologists and anthropologists at the Florida Museum of Natural History (UF), Southern Illinois University, and the Smithsonian. The project will focus on understanding the processes affecting the origin and maintenance of biodiversity (especially endemics) in the Mediterranean Basin using Campanulaceae as a model. Think phylogenomics, polyploidy, population genetics, phylogeography, Ecological Niche Modeling and more.
This study will include a first attempt to integrate the history of human occupation, movements and land-use changes across time and the significance of the impact on the environment and biota within. You will learn how to use AI and model anthropological data to address challenging hypotheses on the long-term effects of human activities, which may have significantly contributed to gene pool fragmentation and range contraction of endemics. These anthropological data have never been analyzed within a plant evolutionary context, and modeled as parameters to help explain changes, or any potential impact, on ecological niches.
A lot of field work in the countries around the Mediterranean Basin, especially on islands! Our team includes Nick Gauthier (UF), Andy Crowl (UF), Jenn Weber (SIU), Torrey Rick (Smithsonian) and many European colleagues! Get in touch if you like to embark on an amazing adventure with us!