Colin Hughes

Research Interests

• Evolutionary genetics, and its relationship to conservation.

Research Description

Evolutionary processes within and among populations are important determinants of species persistence; I am especially interested in processes that aren’t immediately apparent. Much of my current research focuses on the role that infectious disease plays in demography. While human diseases are well characterized, the impact of parasitism (in its broadest sense) on populations of animals in their native range is poorly known. I am interested in quantifying changes in the frequencies of alleles at Major Histocompatibility loci, in space and time, to infer how much influence parasitism exerts on reproductive success.

Recent Publications

• Purcell, J.F.H., Cowen, R.K.,  Hughes, C.R.  and Williams, D.A. (2009). Population structure in a common Caribbean coral-reef fish: implications for larval dispersal and early life-history traits. Journal of Fish Biology  74:403-417.
• Hughes C.R., Miles, S. and Walbroehl, J.M. (2008). Support for the minimal MHC hypothesis: a parrot with a single, highly polymorphic, MHC class II  B  gene. Immunogenetics  60:219-231.
• Sachs, J.L.,  Hughes, C.R., Nuechterlein, G.L. and Buitron, D. (2007). Evolution of coloniality in birds: A test of hypotheses with the red-necked grebe (Podiceps grisegena) Auk  124:628-642.
• Purcell, J.F.H., Cowen, R.K.,  Hughes, C.R.  and Williams, D.A. (2006). Weak genetic structure indicates strong dispersal limits: a tale of two coral reef fish. Proc Royal Soc Lond, Ser B.  273(1593):1483-1490.