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Cate MacGregor shows how Joshua tree’s super-specialized pollinators are adapted to climate, too

Master’s student Cate MacGregor successfully defended her dissertation this morning. Cate’s thesis project uses RADseq data to look for evidence of local adaptation to climate in populations of moths so specialized that we know next to nothing about their lives when they’re not on their host plant — the pollinators of Joshua trees. Working from samples…

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Mikhail Plaza uses linkage mapping to put Joshua tree evolution in its genomic place

Earlier today, Master’s student Mikhail Plaza successfully defended his thesis research, in which he built a linkage map for Joshua tree and used it to reexamine data identifying genetic loci that may play a role in local adaptation to climate and to specialized pollinating yucca moths. Mikhail’s project is among the first fruits of the…

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Alby Dang ably defends the Yoder Lab’s first Master’s thesis

Master’s student Alby Dang successfully defended his thesis research, an examination of cooperative dynamics in the Joshua tree/yucca moth mutualism, in a public presentation and meeting with his thesis committee this morning. Alby was the first graduate student to join the Yoder Lab, interviewing for a position in summer 2017 and enrolling the next fall,…