Evolution of color and pattern in poison frogs

Coloration plays important ecological roles in animals, including mate choice, thermoregulation, and avoiding predation. However, the understanding of how animals produce coloration is based on only a few species and large gaps in knowledge remain. For example, very little is known about how amphibians, one of the major groups of vertebrate animals, produce their beautiful array of colors and patterns. Using recent advances in genomic and developmental biology, we are working to identify the genes that control color and color patterning in three species of poison frogs that represent some of the most colorful and charismatic vertebrates. The development of poison frogs as a model system for the study of coloration will identify key biological mechanisms that contribute to coloration, and open new avenues of research into genetics of color in other animals.

Among the 300 species of dendrobatid poison frogs, the Epipedobates clade is the youngest group that is both chemically defended and brightly colored, offering a glimpse into incipient origins of aposematism. By studying the extensive phenotypic variation in Epipedobates, we are illuminating the evolutionary pathways, population dynamics, and molecular mechanisms underlying the complex ecological shift to aposematism.

Currently funded by NSF IOS-2319711, a collaborative grant with Rasmus Nielsen, Adam Stuckert, Santiago Ron, Roberto Márquez, Mathieu Chouteau, and Andrés Romero.

Previously funded by NSF (GRFP, DBI-1556967, DUE-0942345, CHE-1531972, IOS-1556982), National Geographic Society (Young Explorer Grant #9468-14), Society of Systematic Biologists, North Carolina Herpetological Society, Society for the Study of Reptiles and Amphibians, Chicago Herpetological Society, Texas Herpetological Society