Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Research Focus

My research centers on questions about the generation and maintenance of evolutionary diversity in natural systems across levels of biological organization that span genes and genomes, to behavior and community structure. Using a combination of phylogenetic, comparative, and experimental methodologies, I document temporal and geographic patterns of diversification, test hypotheses about the historical processes that produce those patterns, and explore their consequences for the present-day ecology and behavior of birds and other organisms. At the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, I supervise the Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program, where my overarching goal is to attract and support an intellectually broad and curious community of scholars that generates a steady output of high-quality research, and which trains undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and interns to become leaders in evolutionary biology, conservation genetics, behavioral ecology, and related fields.

Recent Courses Taught

• BioEE 1780 Evolutionary Biology and Diversity
  
• BioEE 2650 Tropical Ecology and Behavior (in Kenya)
  
• BioEE 7800 Ornithology Seminar
  

Selected Publications

Townsend, A. K., R. Bowman, J. W. Fitzpatrick, M. Dent, and I. J. Lovette. 2011. Genetic monogamy across variable demographic landscapes in the cooperatively breeding Florida Scrub-Jay.  Behavioral Ecology 22:464-470.

Lovette, I. J., et al. 2010. A comprehensive multilocus phylogeny for the Wood-Warblers and a revised classification of the Parulidae (Aves).  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57:753-770.

Rubenstein, D. R. and I. J. Lovette. 2009. Reproductive skew and selection on female ornamentation in social species.  Nature 462:786-790.

Botero, C. A., N. J. Boogert, S. L. Vehrencamp, and I. J. Lovette. 2009. Climatic patterns predict the elaboration of song displays in songbirds.  Current Biology 9:1151-1155.

Townsend, A. K., A. B. Clark, K. J. McGowan, and I. J. Lovette. 2009. Disease-mediated inbreeding depression in a large, open population of cooperative crows.  Proceedings of the Royal Society B - Biological Sciences 276:2057-2064.

Moore, R. P., W. D. Robinson, I. J. Lovette, and T. R. Robinson. 2008. Experimental evidence for extreme dispersal limitation in tropical forest birds.  Ecology Letters 11:960-968.

Rabosky, D. L. and I. J. Lovette. 2008. Density-dependent diversification in North American wood-warblers.  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences 275:2353-2371.

Coulon, A., J. W. Fitzpatrick, R. Bowman, B. M. Stith, C. A. Makarewich, L. Stenzler, and I. J. Lovette. 2008. Congruent population structure inferred from dispersal behaviour and intensive genetic surveys of the threatened Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens).  Molecular Ecology 17:1685-1701.

Lovette, I. J., B. V. McCleery, and D. R. Rubenstein. 2008. A complete species-level molecular phylogeny for the "Eurasian" starlings (Sturnidae: Sturmus, Acridotheres, and allies): recent diversification in a highly social and dispersive avian group.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 47:251-260.

Rubenstein, D. R. and I. J. Lovette. 2007. Temporal environmental unpredictability drives the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds.  Current Biology 17:1414-1419.

Lovette, I. J. and W. H. Hochachka. 2006. Continent-wide surveys demonstrate simultaneous effects of phylogenetic niche conservatism and competition on avian community structure. Ecology 87:S14-S28.

Safran, R. J., C. R. Neuman, K. J. McGraw, and I. J. Lovette. 2005. Dynamic paternity allocation as a function of male plumage color in Barn Swallows.  Science 309:2210-2212.