The history of life has been marked by the association of lower level units into higher levels of organization\u2014genes into chromosomes, cells into multicellular organisms, and individuals into social groups. With an emphasis on the transition between individuals and social groups, ongoing areas of research in the lab address the causes and consequences of these evolutionary transitions. Projects include:<\/p>\n
(a) the ecology and biogeography of social evolution;<\/strong><\/p>\n (b) evolution in metapopulations;<\/strong><\/p>\n (c) the short and long term consequences of inbreeding; and<\/strong><\/p>\n (d) the role of multilevel selection in evolution.<\/strong><\/p>\n Central\u00a0 to our empirical studies and a source of inspiration for our theoretical work are the social spiders<\/strong>, a phylogenetically diverse set of species that have converged in evolving cooperative behaviour and highly subdivided population structures.<\/p>\n A more recent area of inquiry focuses on the assemblage of natural communities at both micro and macro scales. Topics include:<\/p>\n (e) sociality and community assembly;<\/strong><\/p>\n (f) spider webs as habitat patches and as targets of ecological and evolutionary tradeoffs; and<\/strong><\/p>\n (g) complexity and biodiversity along productivity gradients.<\/strong><\/p>\n In our work, we use a variety of research tools, including fieldwork in temperate and tropical areas, computer simulation, analytical modelling, and laboratory work employing behavioural and molecular techniques.<\/p>\n Contact Information: <\/b>P.I. email: laviles@zoology.ubc.ca<\/b><\/p>\n Visit also<\/strong> our Facebook page<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Leticia’s blog Nature’s Puzzles<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n and Leticia’s Google Scholar<\/a> and <\/strong>Research Gate<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0profiles<\/strong><\/p>\n Internal Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n UBC Biodiversity Research Centre<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 UBC Zoology Department<\/a><\/p>\n UBC Evolutionary Biology<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 University of British Columbia<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The history of life has been marked by the association of lower level units into higher levels of organization\u2014genes into chromosomes, cells into multicellular organisms, and individuals into social groups. With an emphasis on the transition between individuals and social … Continue reading The lab is not accepting new graduate students at this time.<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n<\/b>Avil\u00e9s Laboratory
\nBiodiversity Research Centre 290
\nDepartment of Zoology
\nUniversity of British Columbia
\n6270 University Blvd.
\nVancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
\nCanada<\/b><\/p>\n