The main goal of Tim's research is to develop and improve conceptual links between evolutionary theory and observable biological patterns to better understand the processes that generate and maintain biodiversity. Research in the lab includes both theoretical and empirical components, with each component stimulating the other. The theoretical work seeks to develop clear, quantitative, and experimentally testable predictions about the relationship between specific evolutionary processes, and observed biological patterns. This theory is then used to motivate new lab experiments and analyses of publicly available data.

Current topics of interest in the Connallon lab include: The evolution of sexual dimorphism, the maintenance of genetic variation in quantitative traits and fitness, the genetic basis of adaptation, the evolution of genome structure, sex chromosome evolution, the interaction between dispersal and local adaptation, and the evolutionary significance of genetic constraints.

The geography of sex-specific selection, local adaptation, and sexual dimorphism. Connallon, T. 2015. The geography of sex-specific selection, local adaptation, and sexual dimorphism. Evolution 69: 2333–2344. doi: 10.1111/evo.12737 Modeling the Manipulation of Natural Populations by the Mutagenic Chain Reaction. Unckless, R.L., Messer, P.W., Connallon, T., and Clark, A.G. 2015. Modeling the Manipulation of Natural Populations by the Mutagenic Chain Reaction. Genetics. doi:10.1534/genetics.115.177592 The distribution of fitness effects in an uncertain world. Connallon, T. and Clark, A.G. 2015. The distribution of fitness effects in an uncertain world. Evolution. Doi: 10.1111/evo.12673 Evolutionary inevitability of sexual antagonism. Connallon, T. and Clark, A.G. 2014. Evolutionary inevitability of sexual antagonism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 281:20132123. Doi 10.1098/rspb.2013.2123 Balancing selection in species with separate sexes: insights from Fisher’s geometric model. Connallon, T., and Clark, A.G. 2014. Balancing selection in species with separate sexes: insights from Fisher’s geometric model. Genetics 197:991-1006. Doi 10.1534/genetics.114.165605 Sexually antagonistic polymorphism in simultaneous hermaphrodites. Jordan, C. Y. and Connallon. T. 2014. Sexually antagonistic polymorphism in simultaneous hermaphrodites. Evolution, in press. Doi: 10.1111/evo.12536