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Sushma Reddy

Assistant Professor

Disciplines

  • Biology

Research Interests

  • My research covers a broad range of topics related to evolution and genetics, primarily using birds as the subject. To date, these subjects include molecular evolution, phylogenetics, biogeography, diversification, patterns of diversity, and conservation. In terms of evolutionary genetics, my research scope includes divergences within species groups to the entire class Aves, utilizing both genomic-scale data and ancient/historical DNA techniques. My two main research programs involve deciphering the deep branches of the avian tree of life and using genetic data to examine species-limits and diversification across tropical Asia. Additional interests focus on issues of biogeography, particularly the geography of speciation, and biodiversity conservation. In my lab, we use DNA sequence data to reconstruct evolutionary history. We also compare the genetic signal to other aspects such as morphological characters to examine the correlation of genotype and phenotype as well as species ranges to examine gene flow, distributional patterns, and the potential impact of the various geological and climatic changes on diversification.