Justin Meyer

PhD candidate

Richard Lenski’s Lab

Department of Zoology, Michigan State University

justin.raymond.meyer@gmail.com

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

I’m broadly interested in the ecological and genetic processes that promote the emergence and long-term maintenance of biodiversity. My particular interest is in how predator-prey interactions promote the evolution and determine the fate of new genotypes and species. I typically study these processes in the lab with experimental microbiology, however I also study natural patterns of biodiversity in Lake Tanganyika. My research is multidisciplinary and typically includes mathematical, molecular, ecological, and evolutionary components.

Publications

The effects of competition and predation on diversification in a model adaptive radiation.

Justin R. Meyer and Rees Kassen

Nature, 446: 432-435 (2007).

[pdf] [nature.com]

featured in: Evolutionary biology - Adaptation under a microscope

NATURE 446 386-387

Evolution and ecological theory - Chance, historical contingency and ecological determinism jointly determine the rate of adaptive radiation

HEREDITY 99 361-363

Ecology: Death and destruction determine diversity

CURRENT BIOLOGY 17 R512-R514

Prey evolution on the time scale of predator-prey dynamics revealed by allele-specific quantitative PCR.

Justin R. Meyer, Stephen P. Ellner, Nelson G. Hairston, Jr., Laura E. Jones and Takehito Yoshida

Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 103: 10690-10695 (2006).

[pdf] [pnas.com]

featured in: Ecology Concepts and Applications: Canadian Edition 2008, pages 376-377.

Current collaborators, Organizations, and Working Groups

Richard Lenski’s Lab – My current home, where I’m exploring the molecular underpinnings of a co-evolutionary arms-race between λ phage and E. coli.

Rees Kassen’s Lab – Rees, Sijmen Schoustra, and I are studying the evolutionary processes that take-place after an adaptive radiation and how they affect the long-term maintenance of diversity.

Anurag Agrawal – Anuruag normally works on plant-herbivore interactions, particularly on the evolution of plant defence traits. We have combined interests by studying the loss of phage-resistance traits in E. coli.

Lori Hepner – Lori is an artist that I work with on exploring the dynamic nature of biological and computer code. Lori uses digital photography, performance, and instillations to illustrate how digital code might mutate and evolve as DNA does.

NESCent Working Group: Mathematical Models, Microbes & Evolutionary Diversification

A group of 14 microbiologists and mathematicians meet twice a year at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center to discuss what the molecular basis for ecological trade-offs are and how do these trade-offs support the emergence and maintenance of biodiversity.

NYANZA Project – The NYANZA project is an interdisciplinary effort to teach students and perform research on Lake Tanganyika in the fields of biology, limnology, paleolimnology, and geology. The project meets every summer in Kigoma, Tanzania. I have worked as a student and teacher for the program. The project has ended, however I’m continuing research on testing niche and neutral theories of ecology with Ellinor Michel, using fish and mollusc distribution data from Lake Tanganyika.

Education

PhD in Zoology, currently enrolled Michigan State University advised by Richard Lenski

MSc in Biology, 2007 University of Ottawa, advised by Rees Kassen and Frances Pick

BSc in Biology, 2004 Cornell University, advised by Nelson Hairston Jr. and Stephen Ellner