A major goal of evolutionary biology is to understand the process of speciation. Of particular interest is evaluating the role of natural selection in causing diverging populations to become species. Addressing these goals entails investigating fundamental questions of evolutionary biology such as: What is the genetic basis of adaptations? What is the role of migration and genetic drift during the evolution of traits? What is the strength of selection acting on an adaptive allele? And what is the mechanism underlying selection? My work incorporates molecular biology, population genetic analyses, and field-based selection experiments to address these questions. My research examines speciation in plants, predominantly focused on reinforcement, the process in which reduced hybrid fitness generates selection for the evolution of reproductive isolation between emerging species. I use an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates functional molecular biology experiments, population genetic analyses, pollinator behavior trials, and field reciprocal transplant experiments.
Molina-Henao, Y. Franchesco and Robin Hopkins. 2019. Autopolyploid lineage shows climatic niche expansion but not divergence in Arabidopsis arenosa. American Journal of Botany 106(1):61-70. [PDF]
Continue reading →
Suni, Sevan S. and Robin Hopkins. 2018. The relationship between postmating reproductive isolation and reinforcement in Phlox. Evolution 72(7):1387–1398 [PDF]
Continue reading →
Briggs, Heather M., Stuart Graham, Callin M. Switzer, and Robin Hopkins. 2018. Variation in context‐dependent foraging behavior across pollinators. Ecology and Evolution 8(16):7964-7973. [PDF]
Continue reading →
Roda, Federico and Robin Hopkins. 2018. Correlated evolution of self and interspecific incompatibility across the range of a Texas wildflower. New Phytologist.[PDF]
Continue reading →
Garner, Austin G., Benjamin E. Goulet, Matthew C. Farnitano, Y. Franchesco Molina-Henao, and Robin Hopkins. 2018. Genomic signatures of reinforcement. Genes 9(4):191 [PDF]
Continue reading →
Switzer, Callin M., Stacey A. Combes, and Robin Hopkins. Dispensing Pollen Via Catapult: Explosive Pollen Release in Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia). 2018. The American Naturalist 191:6 [PDF]
Continue reading →
Roda, Federico, Fábio K. Mendes, Matthew W. Hahn, and Robin Hopkins. 2017. Genomic evidence of gene flow during reinforcement in Texas Phlox. Molecular Ecology 26: 2317-2330. [PDF]
Continue reading →
Goulet, Benjamin E., Federico Roda, and Robin Hopkins. 2017. Hybridization in plants: old ideas, new techniques. Plant Physiology 173: 65-78. [PDF]
Continue reading →
