Todd Oakley
Professor
Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology
Todd Oakley studies how complex traits originate during evolution. Eyes and vision are often considered mind-bogglingly complex, begging the question of how evolution could have produced them. Oakley’s team uses visual systems as a model to answer questions like, when did a particular trait evolve; where did its components come from; and what evolutionary processes were involved? Oakley’s lab also investigates the genetic basis of competition, another complex phenomenon.