The Team

The Core Team

I am broadly interested in how interactions at different levels of biological organization drive the evolutionary process, from epistasis between loci within a genome, to social interactions among individuals in a population, to coevolutionary arm-races between species in a community. My work focuses on natural populations and field studies of selection and inheritance in taxa ranging from snakes to insects to flowers.

Edmund "Butch" Brodie III

BFD Runk Professor

Director of Mountain Lake

Biological Station

My research focuses on the impact of animal behavior on ecological processes. I am particularly curious about how variation in animal behavior is maintained within a species and how the environment affects that variation. Using the forked fungus beetle as a system, I manipulate social contexts in both lab and natural settings to determine why individuals express consistent behaviors, even when those behaviors are disfavored in some contexts. You can find out more on my website here.

Liza Mitchem

PhD Candidate

I am a behavioral and evolutionary ecologist fascinated by how complex phenotypes shape and are shaped by ecological interactions. My work focuses on the interplay between nectar production and foraging behavior phenotypes in a plant-pollinating beetle community at MLBS. I am also engaged in science communication work to share the fascinating story of evolution with all audiences. You can find out more on my website here.

Sarah McPeek

PhD Student

I am interested in the evolutionary mechanisms underpinning how the environment structures phenotypic and genetic diversity. My postdoctoral work focuses on how environmental variation impacts the geographic mosaic of coevolution in an arms race between toxic newts and their snake predators.

Anthony Gilbert

Post-Doc

I am broadly interested in how social interactions impact evolutionary processes. My dissertation research uses experimental populations of forked fungus beetles to explore how social interactions differ across habitat structures and whether selection on social interactions acts at the individual or group level.

Robin Costello

PhD Candidate

I am interested in the evolution of complex social traits. Using forked fungus beetles as a model system, my work asks whether and how social network position can evolve in response to selection.

Phoebe Cook

PhD Candidate

I am the lab technician for the Brodie lab. I help in managing and creating databases that the lab uses, as well as assist in executing and creating lab protocols. I also act as the lab's liaison. I enjoy learning about ecology and interspecific interactions between insects and vertebrate animals.

Savanna Emily Cabrera

Lab Technician

Undergraduates

Matthew Armstrong

Second-Year

Matthew is a third-year undergraduate who works primarily with the lab manager Savanna Cabrera on processing and analyzing forked fungus beetle behavioral assays. Matt majors in Biology and Environmental Science. He is interested in wildlife biology. Outside of the lab, he is interested in ancient history.

Olivia "Livi" Baker

Third-Year

Olivia is a fourth-year undergraduate interested in climate change and art. She's been a long-time worker in the lab and has been awarded the Double Hoos Award with Pheobe Cook in order to help study forked fungus beetle interactions.

Sophia Benmhend

Second-Year

Sophia is a second-year undergraduate who is interested in the ecological effects that insects have on their environments, as well as human obstetrics. Outside of the lab and classroom She enjoys backpacking, reading, and taking care of her houseplants.