Staff Research Scientist, Zoology-Bird Division, Field Museum of Natural History

B. S., University of Michigan, 1993
M. S., University of Minnesota, 1997
Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 2003

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Jason Weckstein

Bridging Micro and Macroevolutionary Histories of Birds and Their Ectoparasitic Chewing Lice

One of the central goals in evolutionary biology is to understand the factors that promote diversification and speciation. I focus on studies of these processes at both the microevolutionary and macroevolutionary levels. My research has included studies of hybridization, geographic variation, population genetic structure, host-parasite coevolution, and mimicry, and has concentrated on discovering the causes of these evolutionary phenomena. In my work, I use both population genetic and phylogenetic analyses of molecular data, in addition to various comparative phylogenetic methods, to reconstruct microevolutionary and macroevolutionary histories of birds and their chewing lice. My current Post-doctoral research is funded by the National Science Foundation and involves tying the cophylogenetic histories of replicate chewing louse and toucan lineages to microevolutionary processes such as gene flow and dispersal of toucan hosts and their parasitic chewing lice. This research is a key step towards understanding the relationship between macroevolutionary patterns such as host-switching and microevolutionary processes such as dispersal.

Chewing Lice

My collaborators and I are currently reconstructing the evolutionary histories of two genera of chewing lice that are both found on Ramphastos toucans and Pteroglossus araçaris (see photos below).

One of the chewing louse genera that we are studying is the genus Austrophilopterus. This louse is Austrophilopterus cancellosus was collected from a Cuvier's Toucan (Ramphastos tucanus cuvieri).

We are also studying chewing lice in the genus Myrsidea. This is Myrsidea ceciliae.

Toucans

We are also reconstructing the evolutionary histories of two genera of toucan hosts so that we can compare the birds histories to those of their chewing lice.

We are reconstructing the phylogenetic and population genetic histories of the Ramphastos toucans. This Toco Toucan (Ramphastos toco) is one of the species that we are studying. - Photo by Vince Smith.

We are also studying smaller bodied toucans called Araçaris. This is an Ivory-billed Araçari (Pteroglossus azara flavirostris). - Photo by Josh Engel.

At most lowland Neotropical localities two species of Ramphastos toucan overlap in distribution. In the Atlantic Forest these are the Red-breasted and Channel-billed toucans (shown above). - Photographed by G. S. Cabanne.