Jonathan A. Coddington
homepage:http://entomology.si.edu/staffpages/coddington.html
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Description

My research spans three broad topics: the systematics and evolution of spiders, especially orbweavers; issues in systematic theory and method; and, most recently, the theory and design of biological inventories. Research on spider systematics has been directed at producing and synthesizing a first estimate of the higher phylogeny of spiders (e.g. "families"), especially orb-weaving spiders and their relatives. The resulting cladograms have been applied to empirical and theoretical studies of adaptation, behavior, evolution of web architecture, silk glands and spinneret spigot morphology,male genitalia, sexual size dimorphism, and patterns of species richness in spiders. I am interested in how adaptational hypotheses are developed and tested, as well as criteria for cladistic support. Finally, as a museum scientist, it seems appropriate to focus on design and evaluation of rapid, efficient, quantitative sampling protocols to better understand the structure and distribution of biodiversity.


Lecture:

lecture
flag Life on Ice: The global Genome Initiative
as author at  TEDxMaribor 2011,
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