How do new species evolve? In 1858, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace provided the first articulation of how the "endless forms most beautiful" have arisen. But surprisingly, the nuts and bolts of what causes two lineages to become evolutionarily distinct is still being worked out. A key part of my research is understanding how genetic incompatibilities arise in diverging lineages, leading to reproductive isolation.

Until recently, the limitations of both sequencing technology and computational power meant that studies of genetic evolution were limited to just a few thousand base pairs of DNA at a time. But organisms' genomes can be many billions of base pairs in size, and different parts of the genome can tell very different stories. In my research, I am using cutting-edge sequencing technologies and developing new analysis tools to understand how the genome evolves in its entirety. This includes the role of chromosomal rearrangements in adaptation and speciation.

As genetic and genomic datasets for many species have become more available, we have realised that many taxa are not quite what they seem. Cryptic species - which appear indistinguishable but are deeply genetically divergent and reproductively isolated - have been found in many groups of organisms all over the world. Within species, there many also be multiple distinct genetic lineages and populations that harbour unique genetic diversity. I am interested in understanding the processes that generate cryptic diversity and how we can best quantify and conserve that diversity in the midst of the current biodiversity crisis.