Research Interests
Speciation, animal behavior and its underlying neurological mechanisms; sexual selection and the evolution of mating systems; phenotypic plasticity
Research Description
My lab is broadly interested in ecology and evolution as it applies to fishes. Fishes are fantastic subjects for evolutionary studies because of the great variation we see among and within populations and between closely related species. My students and I try to capitalize upon this variation to ask questions about (a) how natural and sexual selection vary over time and space, (b) the extent to which variation among/within populations is attributable to genetic variation, phenotypic plasticity, and their interaction, (c) how variation in lighting environments and visual systems alters selection on coloration, and (d) the extent to which natural selection and/or genomic rearrangements are important to speciation. We are increasingly using genomic approaches to address these questions.
Additional Campus Affiliations
Head, Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
Teaching Professorial Scholar, Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
Professor, Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
Affiliate, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
External Links
Recent Publications
Endler, J. A., Raggay, D.-M., Maerowitz-McMahan, S., Reznick, D. N., & Fuller, R. C. (2022). Visual Background Choice and Light Environment Affect Male Guppy Visual Contrast. Vision (Switzerland), 6(3), Article 56. https://doi.org/10.3390/vision6030056
Fuller, R. C., McGhee, K. E., Sandkam, B., Schrader, M., & Travis, J. (2022). Polyphenisms and polymorphisms: Genetic variation in plasticity and color variation within and among bluefin killifish populations. Evolution, 76(7), 1590-1606. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14511
Fuller, R. C. (2022). Revisiting old truths: The evolution of male coloration in guppies as a function of predation. Molecular ecology, 31(5), 1333-1336. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16376
Fuller, R. C. (2022). Treasurer’s Report, 2021 Statement of Activities For the Year Ending December 31, 2021. American Naturalist, 200(6), 875-876. https://doi.org/10.1086/721874
Berdan, E. L., Fuller, R. C., & Kozak, G. M. (2021). Genomic landscape of reproductive isolation in Lucania killifish: The role of sex loci and salinity. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 34(1), 157-174. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13725