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My research concerns primarily the analysis and interpretation of molecular variation within and between populations. The goal is to understand the evolutionary forces that have produced the observed patterns of variation within populations and between species. My work is entirely theoretical, focusing on the stochastic processes relevant to evolution in finite populations in which genetic drift, mutation, migration and selection may all be important. Monte Carlo computer simulations and methods of statistical inference are important aspects of the work. Much of my past work has focused on Drosophila data, in the future it is likely that human variation will be a major focus.

Recent Publications

Kaplan, N.L., Hudson, R. R. and Iizuka, M. 1991

The coalescent process in models with selection, recombination and geographic subdivision. Genetical Research 57:83-91.

Slatkin, M. and Hudson, R. R. 1991

Pairwise comparisons of mitochondrial DNA sequences ins stable and exponentially growing populations. Genetics

Hudson, R. R., Bailey, K., Skarecky, D., Kwiatowski, J., and Ayala, F. J. 1994

Evidence for positive selection in the superoxide dismutase (Sod) region of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 136:1329-1340

Hudson, R. R. and Kaplan, N.L. 1995

Deletorious background selection with recombination. Genetics 141:1605-1617

Hudson, R.R. 1998

Island models and the coalescent process. J. Molecular Ecology: 7:413-418

Rich, S.M., Licht, M.C., Hudson, R.R., and Ayala, F.J. 1998

Malaria’s Eve: Evidence of a recent population bottleneck throughout the world populations of Plasmodium falciparum. Proc. Natl. Acal. Sci. (USA) 95:4425-4430