Work Summary
I am an evolutionary biologist with expertise in the population genomics of wild populations. I have worked across a variety of taxa, with particular focus on wildlife of conservation concern. My research group uses population genomic, phylogenomic, and computational tools to examine the drivers and genetic basis of population structure, local adaptation, hybridization, and macroevolutionary patterns, asking questions about the patterns in the distribution of genetic variation within and among taxa, as well as the evolutionary processes and environmental influences that have led to those patterns.
Research Interest
Dr. Jessica Rick (BS Biology, University of Arizona; MS Integrated Biosciences, University of Minnesota; PhD Ecology, University of Wyoming) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona. Dr. Rick leads a diverse research group with interests in using genomics to better understand wildlife populations. Her group has worked across a variety of taxa, from frogs to fishes to bats to wolves, and has a broad interest in investigating how environmental change drives evolution at the population and species level, and in combining genomic and ecological techniques to connect gene flow processes at the individual and population level to macroevolutionary patterns. In this way, her research focuses on understanding the ways that changing environmental conditions can contribute to patterns of genetic variation across the space and time. In addition, Dr. Rick and her research group have used simulation studies to improve our understanding of the ways that bioinformatic treatment of genomic data can bias the results of population genomic and phylogenomic studies.
