Title

Assistant Professor, School of Natural Sciences

E-mail

mdawson@ucmerced.edu

Office Phone

(209) 228-4056

Website

mnd.ucmerced.edu

marinelakes.ucmerced.edu

thescyphozoan.ucmerced.edu

Address

University of California, Merced
5200 North Lake Rd.
S&E Bldg., RM 230 (office), RM 243 (lab)
Merced, CA 95343

Research Interests

Millions of species demonstrate that evolution happens, but few illuminate the process. Professor Dawson's lab focuses on elucidating the origins, maintenance, and loss of marine biodiversity, from molecular to ecosystem levels. His specific interests are:

• How molecular variation explains and causes differences between individuals, populations, species, and higher taxa
• How the environment shapes genetic, organismal, population, and community variation

His lab work scales from micro- to macro-evolution and integrates biological and physical sciences. Topic areas include:

• Adaptation, ecological genetics and evolutionary ecology
• Population genetics, phylogeography, biogeography and Phylogenetics
• Speciation, systematics and taxonomy
• Behavior and morphology
• Climate change, invasive species and marine protected areas

Education

• Ph.D., 2000 — University of California, Los Angeles
• M.S., 1994 — University of York, England
• B.S., 1993 — University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England