My past work shows that fitness declines are delayed until the second generation of hybridization and that the effects are strongly correlated with both the genetic and geographic divergence between populations. Future work will concentrate on a breeding program to look at how long this outbreeding depression persists and molecular mapping studies to further characterize the genetic basis of fitness effects. I am also exploring possibilities for studying outbreeding depression in other taxa. A second focus in my lab involves using molecular markers to assess the fine-scale structure of natural marine populations. My past work has focused on genetic structure of sea anemone and sea urchin populations.
Future work is aimed at understanding the dynamics of near-shore marine fish.
Mate choice in the face of both inbreeding and outbreeding depression in the intertidal copepod Tigriopus californicus. Marine Biology Edmands S, 1999. Heterosis and outbreeding depression in interpopulation crosses spanning a wide range of divergence. Allozyme and mitochondrial DNA evidence of population subdivision in the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. For more information on my research go here .