Presidential Young Investigator Award

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Evolutionary and population biology questions can now be approached on a molecular level. How do the joint evolutionary forces of natural selection and genetic drift modulate the level and pattern of genetic variation within natural populations and between species? That question will be asked on a molecular level with the technique of "four- cutter" analysis which allows identification of approximately 25% of all nucleotide polymorphism in large samples from natural populations. Also, new techniques will be developed to allow collection of more molecular data in shorter time periods. While providing insight into population biology and evolutionary phenomena, this study is also pioneering a new subdiscipline of molecular population genetics.