Robin Hopkins

A major goal of evolutionary biology is to understand the process of speciation. Of particular interest is evaluating the role of natural selection in causing diverging populations to become species. Addressing these goals entails investigating fundamental questions of evolutionary biology such as: What is the genetic basis of adaptations? What is the role of migration and genetic drift during the evolution of traits? What is the strength of selection acting on an adaptive allele? And what is the mechanism underlying selection? My work incorporates molecular biology, population genetic analyses, and field-based selection experiments to address these questions. My research examines speciation in plants, predominantly focused on reinforcement, the process in which reduced hybrid fitness generates selection for the evolution of reproductive isolation between emerging species. I use an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates functional molecular biology experiments, population genetic analyses, pollinator behavior trials, and field reciprocal transplant experiments.

Burgin, G.A., Roda, F., Farnitano, M.C., Hale, C., Serrato-Capuchina, A., Hopkins, R. In Press. The genetic architecture of quantitative variation in the self-incompatibility response within Phlox drummondii (Polemoniaceae). Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyaf132. McKenzie, P.F., Church, S.H., Hopkins, R. In Press. High throughput iNaturalist image analysis reveals flower color divergence in Monarda fistulosa. The American Naturalist. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.21.655392 Blumstein, M., Webster, S., Hopkins, R., Basler, D., Des Marais, D.L. 2025. Genomics highlight an underestimation of the urban heat island effect on red oak phenology. PNAS 121(12), e2408564122. McKenzie, P.F., Berardi, A.E., Hopkins, R. 2025. A massive community-science dataset reveals convergent evolutio