Punidan D. Jeyasingh, Assistant Professor. Evolutionary Ecology, Nutritional Ecology.   Ph.D., 2007, University of Oklahoma Phone: 405-744-9634 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Lab website

Specific Interests

We study phenotypic evolution at the most fundamental level of biological organization – atoms of elements. Such an approach allows for the generation of several axioms based on first principles. We ask whether, and to what degree, we can predict phenotypic evolution using information on the environmental supply of elements, and phenotypic demand. Such an enterprise addresses two key questions in contemporary eco-evolutionary theory: (i) what is the environmental contribution to heritable phenotypic change? (ii) what are the consequences of phenotypic change at the genomic, physiological, and ecological levels?

We use a variety of tools ranging from common-gardens to radiotracers to transcriptomics for an integrative understanding of phenotypic evolution in elementally-defined environments. We have primarily used the water-flea (Daphnia) and amphipods (Hyalella) to test and refine our hypotheses, and will be adding more systems. Several opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral research are periodically available, e-mail Puni to find out more.

Selected Publications

• Cothran, R.D., A.R. Stiff, P.D. Jeyasingh, R.A. Relyea (2011). Eutrophication and predation risk interact to affect sexual trait expression and mating success. Evolution.
• Jeyasingh, P.D., A. Ragavendran, S. Paland, J.A. Lopez, R.W. Sterner, J.K. Colbourne (2011). How do consumers deal with stoichiometric constraints? Lessons from functional genomics using Daphnia pulex. Molecular Ecology 20(11): 2341-2352.
• Cothran, R. D. & P.D. Jeyasingh (2010). Condition dependence of a sexual trait in a crustacean species complex: importance of the ecological context. Evolution 64(9): 2535-2546.
• Morehouse, N.I., T. Nakazawa, C.M. Booher, P.D. Jeyasingh, M.D. Hall (2010). Sex in a material world: why the study of sexual reproduction and sex-specific traits should become more nutritionally-explicit. Oikos 119: 766-778.
• Hessen, D.O., P.D. Jeyasingh, M. Neiman, & L.J. Weider (2010). Genome streamlining and the elemental costs of growth. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25(2): 75-80.
• Jeyasingh, P.D., L.J. Weider, & R.W. Sterner (2009). Genetically-based trade-offs in response to stoichiometric food quality influence competition in a keystone aquatic herbivore. Ecology Letters 12(11): 1229–1237.
• Jeyasingh, P.D., & L.J. Weider (2007). Fundamental links between genes and elements: the evolutionary implications of ecological stoichiometry. Molecular Ecology 16(22): 4649-4661.
• Jeyasingh, P.D. (2007). Plasticity in metabolic allometry: the role of dietary stoichiometry. Ecology Letters 10(4): 282–289.
• Jeyasingh, P.D. & L.J. Weider (2005). Phosphorus availability mediates plasticity in life-history traits and predator-prey interactions in Daphnia. Ecology Letters 8(10): 1021-1028.