Steven Edward Travis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
stravis@une.edu

Expertise

Molecular ecology; population, community, and landscape genetics

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Education

B.S., Biology, Southern Oregon University, 1986

M.S., Biology, Northern Arizona University, 1990

Ph.D., Biology, Northern Arizona University, 1994

Post-Grad Training

Post-Doctoral Training
Biology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona

Post-Doctoral Training
Forest Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Washington

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Research and Scholarship

Research Interests

Investigations of the interactive effects of genotypic and species diversity on the emergent properties of biological communities; GIS-based approaches to understanding landscape features limiting gene flow and constraining evolutionary trajectories in species comprising distinct ecological guilds; molecular marker-based assessments of population structure and adaptive evolutionary potential, inbreeding/outbreeding depression, and mutational load as a function of genetic diversity; the role of heterosis/hybridization in population persistence/extinction; population estimation by non-invasive genotyping; molecular characterizations of invasive genotypes.

Current Research or Scholarship

My current research program utilizes a variety of molecular tools as a means of studying the evolutionary and ecological impacts of genetic diversity at the population and community levels.  Although my research in recent years has been heavily focused on the role of genetic diversity in shaping the evolutionary potential of populations at the local scale, including studies of inbreeding depression and hybridization, I am currently developing ideas for landscape level and community level studies.  At the landscape level evolutionary ecologists have only a limited understanding of what geographical features are most instrumental as barriers to gene flow among distinct evolutionary lineages in most species.  At the community level there is a growing understanding, albeit still limited, of how genetic diversity below the species level interacts with diversity above the species level in affecting ecosystem functions such as resilience and productivity.

Selected Publications

Travis, S. E., J. E. Baggs, and J. Maschinski. Disentangling the role of hybridization in the evolution of the endangered Arizona cliffrose (Purshia X subintegra; Rosaceae): a molecular and morphological analysis. Conservation Genetics, In Press.

Travis, S. E., and P. Sheridan. 2006. A comparative analysis of genetic population structure among natural and restored shoalgrass (Halodule wrightii) populations along the northwest Gulf of Mexico Coast. Marine Ecology Progress Series 322:117-127.  

Travis, S. E., and M. H. Hester. 2005. A space-for time substitution reveals the long-term decline in genotypic diversity of a widespread salt marsh plant, Spartina alterniflora, over a span of 1,500 years. Journal of Ecology 93:417-430.

Student Opportunities: Yes