The PIE lab strives to answer questions about our world’s biodiversity. What species exist? What are they doing? How are they related? We work to decipher the processes that lead to what we see in nature. We do this using a variety of approaches, summarized on the research page.

 

We start either in the field or in a natural history collection, gathering morphological, molecular, and/or ecological data. Most projects in the lab integrate multiple of these data types to test hypotheses surrounding insect systematics, evolution, and behavior.

 

While most projects in the lab focus on Coleoptera, or beetles, we are fascinated by many groups and currently have active research projects on Diptera, the true flies, and Hemiptera, specifically scale insects.