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Arachnid Mitochondrial Primers | Arachnid Information | Spiders of Portland | PSU Invertebrate Museum

Susan E. Masta Associate Professor Department of Biology P.O. Box 751 Portland State University Portland, OR 97207-0751 smasta@pdx.edu phone (503) 725-8505 office 606 Science Building 1 lab 514 Science Building 1

I am interested in the process of biological diversification, and use varied approaches to understand how genes, organisms, and populations evolve. Understanding the evolution of mitochondrial genes, especially those coding for RNA, has been the emphasis of much of my recent work. Data from mitochondrial genomes has also allowed my lab group to help infer the systematic relationships among the arachnids, one of the most species-rich groups of animals. At the population level, I am interested in the factors that promote and inhibit speciation. Current work in my lab focuses on understanding the potentially adaptive role of visual signaling in different ecological settings.

PSU Biology Department | Portland State University