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Welcome to the Fitzpatrick Lab

Michigan State University's W.K. Kellogg Biological StationWe study fundamental questions in evolution and ecology and apply them to biodiversity conservation. A primary focus of our research is on understanding how evolutionary and ecological processes lead to patterns of adaptation, fitness, and ultimately persistence in small populations. We work on a diversity of organisms in the wild and in the lab using field, experimental, and molecular approaches.  

We are based at Michigan State University's W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) in the Dept. of Integrative Biology. We are affiliated with the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior (EEB) program at MSU.

Our lab is committed to a culture of inclusion, respect, and support of all individuals. 

Lab Updates

May 2022

5/25: New paper co-led by Sarah Evans and Sarah Fitz in Proc Roy Soc BShifts in gut microbiome across five decades of repeated guppy translocations in Trinidadian streams

• Featured by MSU today: What guppy guts can teach us about evolution

5/23: We welcome REU Nina Simone Warner to the lab!

April 2022

4/4: We welcome Lab Manager / Bioinformatician Tyler Linderoth to the lab! 

December 2021

12/6: New paper led by Isabela Borges (first dissertation chapter!) in Ecology LettersReproductive benefits associated with dispersal in headwater populations of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

• Featured by MSU today: Mating, tattoos and leaving home: A tale of growing up guppy 

November 2021

11/20: New PNAS paper led by Marty Kardos: The crucial role of genome-wide genetic variation in conservation

October 2021

10/10: A contingent of the lab attends the in-person AGA:Conservation Genetics meeting in Snowbird, UT! 

September 2021

9/30: Congratulations to Kyle Jaynes on his first-author Molecular Ecology publication from his undergraduate research project: Giant Tree Frog diversification in West and Central Africa: Isolation by physical barriers, climate, and reproductive traits

9/1: We welcome new postdoc Cinnamon Mittan to the lab!

August 2021

8/11: Research assistant / Lab manager position open in the Fitz Lab! Apply here

8/4: Luanna and Sam present their excellent posters at the KBS Undergraduate Research Symposium

8/1: We welcome new postdoc Jessica Judson to the lab!

May 2021

5/27: Isabela Borges awarded Botanical Society of America Student research award AND was honored with the J.S. Karling Award for best proposal!

5/24: We welcome REU Luanna Fenstemacher and URA Sam Pendrick to the lab!

April 2021

4/30: We welcome lab F1, Finch Thomas Jaynes to the world!

4/27: PhD candidate Meaghan Clark passes her comprehensive exam!

4/16: Isabela Borges awarded ASN Student Research Award!

 March 2021

3/4: New paper in Ecological Monographs: A critical comparison of integral projection and matrix projection models for demographic analysis
     •  Featured in an ESA Bulletin: Testing demographic methods using field studies of five dissimilar species

 February 2021

2/21: New paper in Molecular Ecology Resources led by Fitz Lab postdoc Brendan Reid: Rapture-ready darters: Choice of reference genome and genotyping method (whole‐genome or sequence capture) influence population genomic inference in Etheostoma

 January 2021

1/28: Florida scrub-jay genetic rescue project featured in Audubon magazine

 September 2020

9/20: New paper in Evolutionary Applications led by Fitz Lab REU Dan Oliveira: Genome-wide diversity and habitat underlie fine-scale phenotypic differentiation in the rainbow darter (Etheostoma caeruleum)
     •  Dan’s KBS blog post form his first summer

 August 2020

8/31: NSF-funded project to track genetic 'adapt or die' responses to environmental change

 June 2020

6/28: Study gives a long-term glimpse into the ecology of a southwest michigan marsh

May 2020

5/8: Kyle Jaynes awarded the ASIH Gaige Fund Award!

January 2020

1/10: New paper in Current Biology led by Fitz: Genomic and fitness consequences of genetic rescue in wild populations
     •  Genetic rescue warrants consideration as a conservation measure for some populations