Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Research Focus

My lab studies two broad questions in evolutionary biology: why are some groups so diverse and how do morphological novelties evolve? To explore these questions, we work primarily on fishes, both living and fossil. Recent and ongoing projects on diversification have focused on the ecological, morphological, and genotypic aspects of divergence between closely related species (e.g., Tanganyikan cichlids; Australian skinks) within a phylogenetic framework.

We are currently pursuing study of the evolution of morphological novelty in vertebrates. Of particular interest is how the lungs of basal bony vertebrates (Osteichthyes) have been modified to function as swimbladders (respiratory or hydrostatic) in more derived ray-fin fishes (Actinopterygii). We are using Micro-CT imaging in a broadly comparative study of bony vertebrates to study the evolution of these air-filled organs (lungs, swimbladders) in a phylogenetic framework. We are using comparative study of gene expression to decipher the underlying genetic basis of this important evolutionary transformation.

Past projects on evolutionary novelty have addressed the effects of diet on the jaw and body morphology of cichlids; the ontogeny and phylogeny of jaw morphology in needlefishes and their allies; the development and evolution of pigmentation in zebrafish and morphological variability within zebrafish.

Recent Courses Taught

• BioEE 4760 Biology of Fishes
  
• BioEE 4760 Laboratory
  
• BioEE 4640 Macroevolution
  
• BioEE 1780 Evolutionary Biology and Diversity
  

Selected Publications

Rabosky, D. and A. R. McCune. 2010. Reinventing species selection with molecular phylogenies.  Trends in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 25(2):68-74.

Wagner, C. E. and A. R. McCune. 2009. Contrasting patterns of spatial genetic structure in sympatric rock-dwelling cichlid fishes.  Evolution 63(5):1312-1326.

McCune, A. R. 2004. Diversity and speciation of semionotid fishes in Mesozoic rift lakes.  In: Adaptive Speciation, U. Dieckman, M. Doebli, and J. A. J. Metz (eds.).  Cambridge University Press pp. 362-379.

McCune, A. R. and R. L. Carlson. 2004. Twenty ways to lose your bladder: Common natural mutants in zebrafish and widespread convergence of swim bladder loss among teleost fishes.  Evolution and Development 6(4):246-259.

McClure, M. and A. R. McCune. 2003. Evidence for developmental linkage of pigment patterns with body size and shape in Danios (Teleostei:  Cyprinidae).  Evolution 57(8):1863-1875.

McCune, A. R., R. C. Fuller, A. A. Aquilina, R. M. Dawley, J. M. Fadool, D. Houle, J. Travis, and A. S. Kondrashov. 2002. A low genomic number of recessive lethals in natural populations of bluefin killifish and zebrafish.  Science 296:2398-2401.

McCune, A. R. and N. R. Lovejoy. 1998. The relative rate of sympatric and allopatric speciation in fishes: Tests using DNA sequence divergence between sister species and among clades.  In: Endless Forms: Species and Speciation, D. Howard and S. Berloccher (eds.).  Oxford University Press pp. 172-185.

McCune, A. R. 1996. Biogeographic and stratigraphic evidence for rapid speciation in semionotid fishes.  Paleobiology 22(1):34-48.

Normark, B. B., A. R. McCune, and R. G. Harrison. 1991. Phylogenetic relationships of neopterygian fishes inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences.  Molecular Biology and Evolution 8:819-834.

McCune, A. R. 1990. Morphological anomalies in the Semionotus complex: Relaxed selection during colonization of an expanding lake.  Evolution 44(1):71-85.