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Evolutionary Diversity Lab
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A lab that explores how species diversity arose, using molecules and fossils.
AboutAbout the lab
Tracing species diversity through fossils and molecules.
The Evolutionary Diversity Lab studies how the diversity of species came about.
Anywhere from 3 million to 100 million species are said to live on Earth.
This diversity has been shaped by repeated extinction and speciation over Earth's long history.
The lab pursues two lines of research: directly investigating past diversity from fossils, and studying speciation in living organisms.
Key terms
- Speciation
- The process by which one species splits and a new species forms
- Pollination syndrome
- A consistent correspondence seen between the shape and color of flowers and the insects that visit them
- Gondwanan plants
- Plants distributed in separate patches across several continents of the Southern Hemisphere, thought to be a remnant of the time when those continents were one
ResearchResearch themes
The lab pursues research that uses fossils as study material to directly reveal past species diversity, and research on living organisms that reveals speciation occurring under geographic and environmental conditions and through interactions between animals and plants. Animal–plant interactions are the lab's main current theme.
*Illustrative imageFlowers, flower-visiting insects, and speciation
There is a correspondence between the shape and color of flowers and the insects that visit them, known as pollination syndromes. The lab selects plants whose flower shape or color differs between closely related species and observes their flower-visiting insects. In Lycoris sanguinea, it found a pollination style in which small bees visit buds that have just begun to open, completing pollination before the flower opens fully.
*Illustrative imageFood of marine invertebrates
Among terrestrial invertebrates, many cases are known in which species split as a result of changes in diet. Collecting marine gribbles (order Isopoda) from seagrasses and seaweeds in various regions and analyzing their molecular phylogeny showed that populations with different foods are genetically divergent to the degree that they can be considered separate species, which led to the description of a new species.
*Illustrative imageAnimal–plant interactions preserved in fossils
Interactions between animals and plants are a phenomenon that has continued since the distant past. The lab examines feeding traces and feces left by animals in petrified plant fossils, as well as fossils of the animals themselves, to clarify how animals and plants interacted in each period.
*Illustrative imageGondwanan plant fossils and their distribution
Focusing on plant fossils collected in South America and Madagascar, the lab is trying to clarify what past distributions Gondwanan plants and others had. It has analyzed fossil wood from Chile as well as the leaves and reproductive organs of conifers.
MembersFaculty
- Associate ProfessorTakeshi Asakawa
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Polished slice of petrified wood” Michael Gäbler / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Flowers, flower-visiting insects, and speciation: “Lycoris sanguinea var. kiusiana (flower)” Alpsdake / CC0 (cropped)
- Food of marine invertebrates: “Thalassia-Syringodium seagrass bed (Graham's Harbour, western side of North Point Peninsula, northeastern San Salvador Island, eastern Bahamas) ( )” James St. John / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Animal–plant interactions preserved in fossils: “Burmese amber leaf in silver ring” Amber Bugs / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Gondwanan plant fossils and their distribution: “Araucaria araucana kz34” Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Animal Evolutionary Ecology Lab): “Hermit crab with a shell on a sandy bottom at night” Dmitry Domrin / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Functional Ecology Lab): “Mountain Views, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest ( )” U.S. Forest Service- Pacific Northwest Region / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Cell Function Regulation Lab (Matsura-Itakura Lab)): “Gram positive budding yeast cells” Microrao / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Biological Molecular Motor Lab (Ito-Haraguchi Lab)): “Chara coralllina var. kyusyuensis” Show_ryu / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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