Biological Science Faculty Member

Lemmon Lab Page

Professor
Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin, 2007
Graduate Faculty Status

Research and Professional Interests:

One of the most exciting questions in biology is how new species arise. The goal of my research program is to understand both the proximate mechanisms and the ultimate evolutionary processes that generate biodiversity. My lab takes an integrative approach that combines behavioral ecology, evolutionary neuroscience, phylogenetics, population genetics, and genomics, using amphibians—especially chorus frogs (Pseudacris)—as a model.

Current work in the lab has four main threads. First, we study speciation in action: how reinforcement in contact zones drives the evolution of mating signals, female preferences, and population-genetic structure, including cascade reinforcement beyond the contact zone. Second, we trace those behavioral changes into the nervous system, asking how auditory circuits and neurogenomic profiles diverge when species recognition is under selection. Third, we investigate the ecology and evolution of anuran biofluorescence, including whether fluorescent signals are tuned to the visual environment and whether they affect predation risk. Fourth, through the Center for Anchored Phylogenomics, we develop and apply targeted genomic methods to reconstruct the history of frogs and a wide range of other animals and plants, from continent-scale radiations to species delimitation in threatened amphibians.

Selected Publications:

Mukhopadhyay, A., V. G. Kamath, J. M. McDowell, A. S. Acord, R. K. Alluri, G. J. Rose, and E. Moriarty Lemmon. Submitted. Standing neuronal variation enables diversification of mate recognition circuits during speciation by reinforcement. Communications Biology.

Mukhopadhyay, A., V. G. Kamath, J. M. McDowell, A. S. Acord, R. K. Alluri, G. J. Rose, and E. Moriarty Lemmon. 2026. Long-interval neurons are selective for slower pulse rates in chorus frogs that are sympatric versus allopatric with congeneric heterospecifics. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. doi: 10.1007/s00359-025-01791-0.

Ochoa, C. B., A. Loeven, D. A. Fadool, and E. Moriarty Lemmon. 2026. Evoked patterns of neural activity in chorus frogs reveal candidate mechanisms of enhanced species recognition. Journal of Experimental Biology 229:jeb251686. doi: 10.1242/jeb.251686.

Rose, J. P., B. Li, M. J. Sporck-Koehler, E. A. Stacy, K. R. Wood, E. Moriarty Lemmon, A. R. Lemmon, C. Ané, K. J. Sytsma, and T. J. Givnish. 2025. Phylogenomics of the tetraploid Hawaiian lobeliads: implications for their origin, dispersal history, and adaptive radiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122:e2421004122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2421004122.

Skeels, A., H. Sauquet, A. Mast, P. H. Weston, P. M. Olde, G. J. Jordan, R. J. Carpenter, J. Fenker, Z. K. M. Reynolds, A. R. Lemmon, E. Moriarty Lemmon, F. Pichardo Marcano, and M. Cardillo. 2025. Paleobiome dynamics shaped a large Gondwanan plant radiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122:e2502129122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2502129122.

Everson, K. M., L. Pozzi, M. A. Barrett, M. E. Blair, M. E. Donohue, P. M. Kappeler, A. C. Kitchener, A. R. Lemmon, E. Moriarty Lemmon, C. J. Pavón-Vázquez, U. Radespiel, B. Randrianambinina, R. M. Rasoloarison, S. Rasoloharijaona, C. Roos, J. Salmona, A. D. Yoder, R. Zenil-Ferguson, D. Zinner, and D. W. Weisrock. 2025. Multiple bursts of speciation in Madagascar’s endangered lemurs. Nature Communications 16:7070. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-62310-y.

Whitcher, C., S. R. Ron, F. Ayala-Varela, A. J. Crawford, V. Herrera-Alva, E. F. Castillo-Urbina, F. Grazziotin, R. M. Bowman, A. R. Lemmon, and E. Moriarty Lemmon. 2024. Evidence for ecological tuning of anuran biofluorescent signals. Nature Communications 15:8884. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53111-w.

Karimi, N., C. P. Krieg, D. Spalink, A. R. Lemmon, E. Moriarty Lemmon, E. Eifler, A. I. Hernandez, P. W. Chana, A. Rodriguez, J. B. Landis, S. R. Strickler, C. D. Specht, and T. J. Givnish. 2024. Chromosomal evolution, environmental heterogeneity, and immigration drive spatial patterns of species richness in Calochortus (Liliaceae). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121:e2305228121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2305228121.

Brennan, I. G., A. R. Lemmon, E. Moriarty Lemmon, C. J. Hoskin, S. C. Donnellan, and J. S. Keogh. 2024. Populating a continent: phylogenomics reveal the timing of Australian frog diversification. Systematic Biology 73:1–11. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syad048.

Dye, M., A. R. Lemmon, and E. Moriarty Lemmon. 2024. Female chorus frogs delay mate choice under suboptimal environmental conditions. Animal Behaviour 209:215–226. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.11.012.

Anderson, C. B., O. Ospina, P. Beerli, A. R. Lemmon, and E. Moriarty Lemmon. 2023. The population genetics of speciation by cascade reinforcement. Ecology and Evolution 13:e9773. doi: 10.1002/ece3.9773.

Booker, W. W., E. Moriarty Lemmon, A. R. Lemmon, M. B. Ptacek, A. T. B. Hassinger, J. Schul, and H. C. Gerhardt. 2022. The complex history of genome duplication and hybridization in North American gray treefrogs. Molecular Biology and Evolution 39:msab316. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msab316.

Hime, P. M., A. R. Lemmon, E. C. M. Lemmon, and colleagues. 2021. Phylogenomics reveals ancient gene tree discordance in the Amphibian Tree of Life. Systematic Biology 70:49–66. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syaa034.

Prum, R. O., J. S. Berv, A. Dornburg, D. J. Field, J. P. Townsend, E. Moriarty Lemmon, and A. R. Lemmon. 2015. A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing. Nature 526:569–573. doi: 10.1038/nature15697.

Graduate Students: