The research in my laboratory focuses on evolutionary mechanisms that allow organisms to cross boundaries between environments.  Such habitat transitions are of particular interest because they offer insights into how environmental changes result in shifts in life histories and physiology.  Habitat transitions have led to major evolutionary episodes of radiation and speciation in many taxa.

Over evolutionary time, two extraordinary habitat transitions have required solving problems of regulating fluxes between body fluids and the environment, namely, freshwater invasion from the sea, and terrestrial invasion from aquatic habitats. My research has considered aspects of both.  Most of my research has focused on very recent invasions of fresh water from saltwater habitats, and adaptations to ion limitation in fresh water (Lee, 1999; Lee and Petersen, 2002, 2003; Lee et al., 2003).  Another project considered constraints on development in aquatic habitats imposed by oxygen limitation in water relative to air (Lee and Strathmann, 1998).

Studies of recent freshwater invasions have important consequences for understanding biological invasions, given that many environmentally-disruptive invaders are moving to fresh water from saline or brackish habitats (Lee and Bell, 1999).  In recent years, human activity has created new opportunities for the introduction and acclimatization of many species to freshwater environments, through the construction of reservoirs and creation of transport vectors.  Such phenomena are posing new challenges and opportunities for organisms, and are forcing us to explore broader questions regarding limitations on species distributions, and factors that cause those distributions to shift.

My research analyzes the nature of adaptations involved in habitat transitions by integrating approaches from comparative physiology, biochemistry, and evolutionary genetics.  These approaches include reconstructing pathways of invasion using phylogenetic approaches, analyzing patterns of reaction norm evolution from ancestral source to invading populations, and examining patterns of gene expression in response to environmental change.

My research has focused primarily on the copepod sibling species complex Eurytemora affinis (Lee, 1999, 2000; Lee and Petersen, 2002. 2003; Lee and Frost 2002; Lee et al., 2003).  Students in my laboratory are also conducting research on the evolution of plasticity and canalization of morphology in invading zebra and quagga mussel populations.

Members of the Lee Lab

Graduate students currently supervised:

Greg Gelembiuk (gelembiu@entomology.wisc.edu) 
Evolutionary genomics and targets of selection during freshwater invasions by the copepod Eurytemora affinis. Evolutionary shifts in gene expression associated with freshwater invasions.

Marijan Posavi (posavi@wisc.edu)
Evolutionary genomics and targets of selection during freshwater invasions by the copepod Eurytemora affinis. Exploring genome-wide signatures of natural selection.

Suzanne Peyer (smpeyer@wisc.edu)
Functional morphology, biomechanics, and habitat utilization of zebra and quagga mussels.  Behavioral differences between zebra and quagga mussels in relation to their shape differences. Mechanisms of shape differences.

Davorka Gulisija (dgulisija@wisc.edu)

Undergraduate Researchers:

Dan Skelly 
Brian Metzger
Mike Kiergaard
Kevin Chau
Alice McCarthy
Margaret Noll
Fang Yun Lim
Sona Son
Jin Woo Kim
Timothy Pian
Justin Lengfeld
Jesse Mursky-Fuller

Students supervised who've recently earned graduate degrees:

Gemma May
Molecular ecology of zebra mussel invasions and systematics of Dreissena.

Selected Publications (click on author to download PDF files)

Lee, CE, and GW Gelembiuk. 2008. Evolutionary origins of invasive populations.  Evolutionary Applications, In Press.

Winkler, G, JJ Dodson, and CE Lee. 2008.  Heterogeneity within the native range: Population genetic analyses of sympatric invasive and noninvasive clades of the freshwater invading copepod Eurytemora affinis..Molecular Ecology. 17:415-430.

Lee, CE, JL Remfert, and Y Chang. 2007. Response to selection and evolvability of invasive populations. Genetica. 129:179-192.

Lee, CE and T Mitchell-Olds (eds). 2006. Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics of Populations in Nature. Special Issue for Molecular Ecology. 15:1193-1418.

Gelembiuk, GW, GE May, and CE Lee. 2006. Phylogeography and systematics of zebra mussels and related species. Molecular Ecology. 15:1021–1031.  SUPPL. MATERIALS

May, GE, GW Gelembiuk, V Panov, M Orlova and CE Lee. 2006. Molecular ecology of zebra mussel invasions. Molecular Ecology. 15:1033–1050.

Rasch, EM, CE Lee, and GA Wyngaard. 2004. DNA-Feulgen cytophotometric determination of genome size for the freshwater-invading copepod Eurytemora affinis. Genome. 47:559-564.

Lee.CE, JL Remfert, and GW Gelembiuk. 2003. Evolution of physiological tolerance and performance during freshwater invasions. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 43:439-449. (Invited Symposium Paper)

Lee, CE and CH. Petersen. 2003. Effects of developmental acclimation on adult salinity tolerance in the freshwater-invading Eurytemora affinis. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 76: 296-301

Lee, CE and CH Petersen. 2002. Genotype-by-environment interaction for salinity tolerance in the freshwater invading copepod Eurytemora affinis. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 75: 335-344.

Lee, CE. 2002. Evolutionary genetics of invasive species. Trends. Ecol. Evol. 17: 386-391.

Lee CE and BW Frost. 2002. Morphological Stasis in the Eurytemora affinis species complex (Copepoda: Temoridae). Hydrobiologia 480:111-128. (Invited Symposium Paper)

Lee, CE. 2000. Global phylogeography of a cryptic copepod species complex and reproductive isolation between genetically proximate "populations." Evolution. 54: 2014-2027.

Lee, CE and MA Bell. 1999. Causes and consequences of recent transitions to fresh water by saltwater animals. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 14: 284-288.

Lee, CE 1999. Rapid and repeated invasions of fresh water by the saltwater copepod Eurytemora affinis. Evolution. 53: 1423-1434.

Lee, CE and RR Strathmann. 1998. Scaling of gelatinous clutches: effects of siblings' competition for oxygen on clutch size and parental investment per offspring. American Naturalist. 151:293-310.

Full List of Publications

Education and Professional History

Evolutionary Biology at UW-Madison