Research Interests
Speciation, animal behavior and its underlying neurological mechanisms; sexual selection and the evolution of mating systems; phenotypic plasticity
Research Description
My lab is broadly interested in ecology and evolution as it applies to fishes. Fishes are fantastic subjects for evolutionary studies because of the great variation we see among and within populations and between closely related species. My students and I try to capitalize upon this variation to ask questions about (a) how natural and sexual selection vary over time and space, (b) the extent to which variation among/within populations is attributable to genetic variation, phenotypic plasticity, and their interaction, (c) how variation in lighting environments and visual systems alters selection on coloration, and (d) the extent to which natural selection and/or genomic rearrangements are important to speciation. We are increasingly using genomic approaches to address these questions.
Additional Campus Affiliations
Head, Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
Teaching Professorial Scholar, Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
Professor, Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
Affiliate, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
External Links
Recent Publications
Davis, E. J., Brockelsby, K., Tan, M., & Fuller, R. C. (2025). Sexual Dimorphism in Fin Size and Shape in North American Killifish. Ecology and Evolution, 15(4), Article e71194. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71194
Karatgi, R., & Fuller, R. C. (2025). When Rivals Are Absent: Male Aggression Towards Females in Bluefin Killifish. Ecology and Evolution, 15(3), Article e71048. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71048
Endler, J. A., Raggay, D.-M., Maerowitz-McMahan, S., Reznick, D. N., & Fuller, R. C. (2022). Visual Background Choice and Light Environment Affect Male Guppy Visual Contrast. Vision (Switzerland), 6(3), Article 56. https://doi.org/10.3390/vision6030056
Fuller, R. C., McGhee, K. E., Sandkam, B., Schrader, M., & Travis, J. (2022). Polyphenisms and polymorphisms: Genetic variation in plasticity and color variation within and among bluefin killifish populations. Evolution, 76(7), 1590-1606. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14511
Fuller, R. C. (2022). Revisiting old truths: The evolution of male coloration in guppies as a function of predation. Molecular ecology, 31(5), 1333-1336. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16376