Research Interests

Phenotypic Evolution, Genetic Architecture, and Speciation of Invasive Species

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.

Courses:

Zoology 151 - Introductory Biology
Zoology 611 - Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology
Zoology 612 - Comparative Physiology Laboratory
Zoology 957 - Seminar - Evolution

Graduate students currently supervised:

Please see: Lee Lab Members

Selected Publications (Go to a more comprehensive listing)

Lee, CE, and GW Gelembiuk. 2008. Evolutionary origins of invasive populations.  Evolutionary Applications, 1:427-448.

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, YM Chang.  2007.  Response to selection and evolvability of invasive populations.  Genetica.  129:179-192. 

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

Lee, CE, BW Frost.  2002.  Morphological stasis in the Eurytemora affinis species complex (Copepoda: Temoridae).  Hydrobiologia.  480:111-128. 

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

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