John Swallow Lab

Welcome!

My research fits under the broad context of evolutionary physiology, focusing largely on how morphology, physiology, and behavior evolve together as an integrated phenotype.  One area of my research interests focuses on correlated evolution between exercise physiology and locomotor behavior because the performance abilities of animals are thought to be central to their survival and fitness.  More recently, I have initiated research investigating how evolution driven by sexual selection (e.g. ornamentation that serves as secondary sexual signals) conflicts with locomotor performance and, ultimately, fitness using stalk-eyed flies as a model system.  Sexual selection provides a selective engine with the ability to drive large changes in suites of behavioral, physiological and morphological characters with the potential for rapid speciation. Research includes ecological, organismal, biomechanical and behavioral approaches.