pbarber@bu.edu

Marine Biology Ecology and Conservation Biology Molecular Ecology and Evolution Genetics

Paul Barber

Assistant Professor of Biology
Ph.D. (Integrative Biology), University of California, Berkeley, 1998

Evolution, biogeography, conservation, and population genetics of marine organisms

My research focuses on the origin and maintenance of biodiversity in marine environments. In particular, I am interested in the interplay of organismal ecologies and abiotic processes in driving lineage diversification viewed from an evolutionary genetic perspective. Although allopatric diversification is believed to be the dominant form of speciation, the prevalence of larval dispersal in marine taxa suggests that opportunities for allopatric divergence in marine environments are few. Our work focuses on this compelling paradox.

One of the primary directions of my research program is focused on the origins of high marine biodiversity in the Coral Triangle. While being the World's epicenter of marine diversity, the origins of this diversity are poorly understood. We approach this problem through synthesis of oceanography and geology with broad-scale comparative studies of phylogeography and population genetics across this region on taxa ranging from corals to tuna. In collaboration with local and international conservation organizations, we use our understanding of origins of biodiversity in the Coral Triangle to assist in creating effective management strategies of this highly threatened region. Studies in the Indo-Pacific are complemented with numerous projects focused on both the Pacific and Atlantic shores of the U.S.

For more detailed descriptions of work in our lab, please visit our lab website at http://people.bu.edu/pbarber/.

Ongoing Research Projects

1. Dispersal and connectivity in marine environments.
2. Evolution of marine biodiversity.
3. Dispersal and ecological adaptation in marine environments.
4. Marine conservation.

Vigliola, L., Doherty, P.J., Meekan, M.G., Drown, D.M., Jones, M.E., and Barber, P.H.(In press) Genetic identity determines risk of post-settlement mortality of a coral reef fish. Ecology.

Cheroske, A.G., Barber, P.H., and T.W. Cronin (In press) Ecological requirements influence the capacity to express a phenotypically plastic color vision trait in three species of Caribbean mantis shrimp within the genus Neogonodactylus (Stomatopoda, Gonodactyloidea). Marine Biology.

Barber, P.H., Palumbi S.R., and M.V Erdmann. 2006. Comparative phylogeography of three co-distributed stomatopods: origins and timing of regional lineage diversification in the coral triangle. Evolution, 60, 1825-1839.

Barber, P.H., and Boyce, S.L. 2006. Empirical evaluation of DNA barcoding through the identification of stomatopod larvae in the Coral Triangle. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 273, 2053-2061.

Lindquist, N, Barber, P.H., and Weisz, J 2005. Epibiotic microbes as food and defense formarine isopods: unique symbioses in a hostile environment. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 272, 1209-1216.

Barber, P.H. and Bellwood, D.R. 2005. Biodiversity hotspots: Evolutionary origins of biodiversity in wrasses (Halichoeres) in the Indo-Pacific and New World Tropics. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 35, 235-253.

Barber PH, Moosa MK, Palumbi SR. 2002. Rapid recovery of genetic diversity of stomatopod populations on Krakatau: temporal and spatial scales of marine larval dispersal. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. Aug 7;269(1500):1591-7.

Barber PH, Palumbi SR, Erdmann MV, Moosa MK. 2002. Sharp genetic breaks among populations of Haptosquilla pulchella (Stomatopoda) indicate limits to larval transport: patterns, causes, and consequences. Mol Ecol. Apr;11(4):659-74.

Barber, P.H., Palumbi S.R., Erdmann M.V., and M.K. Moosa. 2000. A marine wallace's line? Nature, 406: 692-693

Barber, P.H. 1999. Phylogeography of Hyla arenicolor (Cope) based on mitochondrial sequence data. Molecular Ecology, 8: 547-562.

Barber, P.H. 1999. Population genetic structuring and gene flow in Hyla arenicolor (Cope) based on mitochondrial sequence data. Molecular Ecology, 8: 563-576.

Questions and comments are always welcome.
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This document was last modified on November 9, 2006.