Clegg, Sonya - University of Oxford - Department of Zoology

研究领域

A common thread to my research is to increase understanding of the evolutionary processes that promote divergence in wild vertebrate systems. I use a variety of methodologies to answer questions about processes of genetic, morphological and ecological/behavioural differentiation. Three current research areas are: 1) Processes that generate biodiversity in archipelago systems I am interested in the processes that both promote and inhibit the generation of biodiversity and I examine these processes using avian systems in South Pacific region, primarily New Caledonia and Vanuatu. I integrate information on population genetic, phylogenetic variation, morphological and ecological variation and host-pathogen interactions (avian malaria), to understand the microevolutionary processes that underlie population divergence and how this may lead to incipient speciation. 2) Dynamics of natural selection in wild populations I study the temporal dynamics of natural selection in an individually colour-ringed population of silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus) Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia to understand the nature of phenotypic evolution. This population has been studied since the 1960’s, and application of modelling techniques applied to the long-term dataset along with on-going collection of individual-based data allows insight into potential responses to changing environmental conditions. 3) Genomics of divergence in island colonizing birds Island colonizing birds often appear to undergo rapid divergence. Members of the Zosteropidae family provide an ideal system to examine genomic patterns of divergence associated with island colonisation across a spectrum of known population ages. I am applying genomic approaches to understand this rapid divergence, with a current focus on understanding genetic underpinnings of changes in dispersal tendencies.

近期论文

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Potvin, DA, SM Clegg (2015) The relative roles of cultural drift and acoustic adaptation in shaping syllable repertoires of island bird populations change with time since colonization. Evolution 69(2):368-380. Clark, NJ, SM Clegg (2015) The influence of vagrant hosts and weather patterns on the colonization and persistence of blood parasites in an island bird. J. Biogeography 42:641-651. Clark, N, SM Clegg, MR Lima (2014) A review of global diversity in avian haemosporidians (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus: Haemosporida): new insights from molecular data. International Journal for Parasitology 44(5):329-338. Ponce-Reyes R, SM Clegg, SB Carvalho, E McDonald-Madden, HP Possingham (2014) Geographic surrogates of genetic variation for selecting island populations for conservation. Diversity and Distributions 20(6):640-651. Clegg SM, AB Phillimore (2010) The influence of gene flow and drift on genetic and phenotypic divergence in two species of Zosterops in Vanuatu. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 365 (1543):1077-1092. Clegg SM, DF Frentiu, J Kikkawa, G Tavecchia and IPF Owens (2008) 4000 years of phenotypic change in an island bird: heterogeneity of selection over three microevolutionary timescales. Evolution 62, 2393-2410.