Department of Biological Sciences

My research is involved with understanding phylogenetic and biogeographic components of biological diversity, focusing on freshwater fishes, although I am interested in other aquatic organisms. In order to address various questions, my lab uses an array of tools, including traditional (e.g., morphological, ecological, and life history) and molecular characters (e.g., DNA sequences and fragments and genomic information), historical and ecological biogeography, paleohydrology, and population genetics. Integrating these disciplines falls within the context of phylogenetics, ylogeography, and population/conservation genetics.

• Beshera, K. and P.M. Harris. Accepted. Phylogeography of Labeobarbus intermedius (Cyprinidae) in Ethiopia. Journal of Fish Biology.
• Fluker, B.L., B.R. Kuhajda, and P.M. Harris. In press. The effects of riverine impoundment on genetic structure and gene flow in two stream fishes in the Mobile River basin. Freshwater Biology.
• Harris, P. M., G.K. Hubbard, and M. Sandel. In press. Catostomidae, Suckers. In: North American Freshwater Fishes: Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. M. Warren and B. M. Burr, eds. John Hopkins University Press.
• Tang, KL; Agnew, MK; Chen, WJ; Hirt, MV; Lumbantobing, DN; Raley, ME; Sado, T; Teoh, VH; Yang, L; Bart, HL; Harris, PM; He, S; Huanzhang, L; Miya, M; Saitoh, K; Simons, A; Wood, RM; Mayden, RL. 2013. Limits and phylogenetic relationships of East Asian fishes in the subfamily Oxygastrinae (Teleostei: Cypriniformes; Cyprinidae). Zootaxa 3681:101-135.
• Whelan, N.V., P.D. Johnson, and P.M. Harris. 2012. Rediscovery of Leptoxis compacta (Gastropoda: Cerithioidea: Pleuroceridae). PLoS One 7:e42499.
• Whelan, N.V., P.D. Johnson, and P.M. Harris. 2012. Presence or absence of carinae in closely related populations of Leptoxis ampla (Anthony, 1854) (Gastropoda: Pleuroceridae) is not the result of ecophenotypic plasticity. Journal of Molluscan Studies 78:231-233.
• Bagley, J.C., R.L. Mayden, K.J. Roe, W. Holznagel, and P.M. Harris. 2011. Congeneric phylogeographical sampling reveals polyphyly and novel biodiversity within black basses (Centrarchidae: Micropterus). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 104:346-363.
• Fluker, B.L., B. Kuhajda, N. Lang, and P.M. Harris. 2010. Reduced genetic diversity and small long-term population sizes in the spring endemic watercress darter, Etheostoma nuchale: evidence from comparisons to its widespread relative E. swaini. Conservation Genetics 11:2267-2279.