Our lab integrates behavior and ecology with modern approaches in computational biology and genomics to understand the evolution and development of phenotypic complexity. We focus on social insects as models, as they represent a major evolutionary transition and epitomize phenotypic plasticity within and across developmental and evolutionary timescales.

​Bees in the family Halictidae (the sweat bees) are an ideal group to study the mechanisms and consequences of phenotypic plasticity in social evolution, with plasticity within and across species, repeated gains and losses of social traits, and newly developed genomic resources for key taxa.

We are currently recruiting M.S. and Ph.D. students to join the lab!
Please contact Beryl.Jones@uky.edu, see this description, and visit the UK Entomology graduate page for more information!