Nathaniel Hardy
Auburn University, AL·Ecology & Evolution
Invasive species, organisms that spread into new regions and disrupt them, threaten ecosystems, farming and food security. Aphids, small sap-feeding insects, are among the most invasive animals and the most important agricultural pests.
- Fields
Ecology & Evolution
Plant Science & Agriculture
Biology
- Topics
aphids
Aphididae
biological invasions
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2029
What they work on
- Estimate evolutionary relationships among aphid lineages by sequencing target-enriched genomic data from about 700 aphid species, advancing aphid classification.
- Test causal links between aphid invasiveness and niche identity, niche breadth, reproductive output and dispersal ability using phylogenetic path models, which account for shared ancestry among species.
- Determine whether ecological similarity between an aphid's native region and a new region predicts successful invasion, using comparative phylogenetic analyses.
More about the research
Why some aphid species become invasive while others do not is unclear. This project aims to improve our ability to predict and prevent harmful invasions by building an evolutionary family tree of aphids and using it to study what drives invasiveness.
Why it matters
Invasive aphids damage crops and disrupt ecosystems. Identifying which traits and environmental matches make a species likely to invade could help agricultural agencies, farmers and conservation managers anticipate and prevent future pest invasions. The aphid family tree and data resources may also support research on species ranges and climate change responses.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Duane McKenna
University of Memphis, TN·Ecology & Evolution
Reconstruct the first comprehensive phylogeny of longhorned beetles using more than 500 nuclear genes from over 600 species, collected by anchored hybrid enrichment sequencing and supported by genomes of key species.
Stacy Krueger-Hadfield
William & Mary, VA·Ecology & Evolution·Early-career
Test whether haploid and diploid life stages of an invasive seaweed respond differently to intertidal conditions such as salinity and temperature, using common garden experiments to compare ecological and genetic models.
Andrew Mongue
University of Florida, FL·Ecology & Evolution
Construct a global phylogeny of bagworm moths from field-collected species to count how many times extreme female sexual dimorphism, including winglessness and loss of legs and eyes, evolved independently.
The school
Auburn University: 11 labs on PI Pages, $394M a year on research, 327 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.