Profile
Jeff Dudycha is an Assistant Professor in Biological Science and the School of the Environment at the University of South Carolina. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1999. His academic research areas are Evolutionary Ecology, Genetics & Genomics in Freshwater Systems.
Qualifications
Ph.D. (Michigan State University), A.B. (Dartmouth College)
Research
Evolutionary Processes in the Wild
Research in our lab is rooted in evolutionary ecology, and is unified by the goal of understanding how adaptive & non-adaptive evolutionary processes play out in nature. We seek a mechanistic and holistic understanding of these processes by integrating information ranging from genetic sequences to community structure.
Our conceptual approach is to focus on traits, the features of organisms that set the boundaries of their distributions, mediate their interactions and drive their ultimate success or failure.
Focusing on traits allows a mechanistic understanding of the feedback between ecological interactions and evolutionary change. We draw on a variety of disciplines to address fundamental questions about nature and
biodiversity: To what extent do adaptive and non-adaptive evolution define the habitats in which a population can persist? How do traits interact, ecologically and evolutionarily, to produce organismal success or failure? How do ecological interactions influence the evolution of gene function, and vice-versa? What are the constraints on adaptation?
Integrating diverse types of information necessitates using a wide variety of techniques, and ours include molecular work (DNA sequencing, microsatellite genotyping, gene expression microarray profiles), field work (observational demography, community structure analyses and in-situ experiments) and laboratory phenotypic assays (life tables, growth rate experiments, and hormone manipulations). We explore new techniques as required by the questions we address.
Study Organisms
We use Daphnia, a common freshwater crustacean, as our primary model system. It allows us to juxtapose ecological and genetic data in our explorations of adaptation and divergence as they proceed in the wild because it is uniquely amenable to field work, lab experiments and genetic analysis. Daphnia are ecologically important, often being the dominant herbivore in the systems they inhabit, and have been a key study organism since the dawn of experimental ecology. In the lab, they are relatively easy to raise and have generation times under two weeks, and the genetic tools available are expanding rapidly. Their genome has been sequenced, and a variety of genetic manipulations are possible. Recently, Daphnia became the thirteenth organism recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a genetic model organism.
Much of our work involves comparisons of populations along the pond-lake gradient, focusing on the divergence of Daphnia into temporary ponds and large permanent lakes. Most of the traits we study are drawn from thinking about life history evolution and resource exploitation.
Selected Publications
Heier, C. R. & J. L. Dudycha. 2009. Ecological speciation in cyclic
parthenogens: Sexual capability of experimental hybrids between Daphnia pulex and Daphnia pulicaria. Limnology and Oceanography, in press.
Omilian, A., M. E. A. Cristescu, J. L. Dudycha, & M. Lynch. 2006.
Ameiotic recombination in asexual lineages of Daphnia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103: 18638-18643. Erratum: PNAS 104:
2554.
Dudycha, J. L. and M. Lynch. 2005. Conserved ontogeny and allometric scaling of resource acquisition and allocation in the Daphniidae.
Evolution 59: 565-576.
Dudycha, J. L. 2004. Mortality dynamics of Daphnia in contrasting habitats and their role in ecological divergence. Freshwater Biology,
49: 505-514.
Dudycha, J. L. 2001. The senescence of Daphnia from risky and safe habitats. Ecology Letters 4(2): 102-105.
Dudycha, J. L. and A. J. Tessier. 1999. Natural genetic variation of life span, reproduction and juvenile growth in Daphnia. Evolution 53:
1744-1756.