Elizabeth Stacy and Tomoko Sakishima (both Life Sciences) authored a paper in press for the Journal of Biogeography, "Phylogeography of the Highly Dispersible Landscape-dominant Woody Species Complex, Metrosideros, in Hawaii." They carried out a population genetic analysis of >1,500 adults of Hawaii's dominant tree from across the archipelago for insights into how diversification occurs within long-lived, highly dispersible and continuously distributed groups. They find, among other results, that morphological diversity likely accumulates rapidly within this group, associated with differential adaptation across heterogeneous environments, but isolation of gene pools through speciation likely requires persistent disruptive selection where environments are stable for long periods. Sakishima is a Ph.D. student.
