Trevor Price's personal homepage.

We study the causes and consequences of speciation in birds. We combine field research, mostly in India, with molecular lab work (e.g., phylogeny reconstruction) and some theoretical studies. Major questions include: What is the role of songs and plumage patterns in speciation? Why are there twice as many species breeding in the eastern Himalayas as the western Himalayas? What sets range limits of species? How do closely related parapatric species interact at their mutual range limit? Much of our ongoing research is on the genus Phylloscopus, or Old World Leaf Warblers, chosen because multiple coexisting species are extremely similar to each other. By studying the differences in ecology, song, plumages and displays, both within single communities and across regions, we can begin to understand the contribution of these traits to speciation. We are now extending this approach to other groups, and my personal research is on comparing the ecology of all passerines across the Himalayas, combining field studies of their abundance in communities and across elevational gradients with phylogenetic reconstructions.

A second major research project is on urban bird communities. We have been investigating rapid evolution in a Dark-eyed Junco population subsequent to its establishment at the University of California at San Diego about 30 years ago. This work is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Ellen Ketterson (University of Indiana).

I am currently most interested in supervising students who wish to undertake field studies on birds. They can develop projects within these systems, or independently.

Recent Publications

Price, T. D., A. Qvarnström, and D. E. Irwin. (2003)

The role of phenotypic plasticity in driving genetic evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society, B 270:1433-1440.

Irwin, D. E., S. Bensch, J. H. Irwin and T. Price. (2005)

Speciation by distance in a ring species. Science 307:414-415.

Johansson, U. S., P. Alström, U. Olsson, P. Ericson, P. Lundberg and T. D. Price. (2007)

Build-up of the Himalayan avifauna through immigration: a biogeographical analysis of the Phylloscopus and Seicercus warblers. Evolution 61: 324-333.

Price, T. D., and A. B. Phillimore (2007)

Reduced major axis regression and the island rule. Journal of Biogeography.

Price, T. (2008)

Speciation in birds. Roberts and Co. Boulder, CO