Dr. Richards-Zawacki’s research lies at the intersection of ecology and evolutionary biology, in that she approaches questions about how changes in climate and habitat shape organisms and communities in a way that considers their evolutionary implications. Her work integrates studies of molecular, morphological, ecological, and behavioral variation, and she focuses mainly on amphibians because their diversity provides an exciting backdrop for exploring the interplay between ecology and evolution across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. The questions she asks address how climate and host/pathogen evolution shape the dynamics of wildlife diseases; the effects of changes in climate on species distributions and diversity; how reproductive isolation evolves during speciation; and the natural history and conservation of endangered amphibians.
