Birds and lice!
Using next-generation sequencing technology and bioinformatic tools, this project examines the cophylogenetic and population genomic patterns between avian hosts (Mionectes) and their obligate, parasitic chewing lice (Myrsidea). As a Neotropical host-parasite system based along an elevational gradient in Peru, I am interested in assessing the role of several ecological factors (i.e. host specificity, dispersal, biogeography) in driving microevolutionary (population) as well as macroevolutionary (phylogenetic) processes