DoctorSarah Flanagan

The Flanagan Lab is focused on understanding the evolutionary mechanisms allowing variation in traits to be maintained within and among populations. Specifically, we are interested in understanding the evolution of sexually dimorphic traits (why are males and different in some species and not other closely related species?) and identifying mechanisms impacting fitness-related traits (what evolutionary mechanisms and which traits are involved in population declines?). We use a wide variety of tools to address these questions, including population genetics, comparative genomics, transcriptomics, animal behaviour, and simulation modeling. Our empirical work has mostly focused on pipefish and seahorses, but we are also studying kororā (little blue penguins), paikea (humpback whales), and pathogenic oomycetes.