Micah Freedman

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago

Ph.D.: Population Biology, UC Davis

Learn about my research

Research

I am currently a NSF postdoctoral fellow in the Kronforst Lab at the University of Chicago. I am also supervised by Dr. Riccardo Papa at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras.

I completed my Ph.D. in Population Biology at UC Davis and was advised by Santiago Ramírez and Sharon Strauss

Previously I studied Entomology at Cornell University and worked for The Ecology of Bird Loss Project in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands

I am an evolutionary biologist and chemical ecologist. Much of my research has focused on monarch butterflies and their interactions with milkweed host plants, but I am broadly interested in the process of adaptation and methods for detecting natural selection.

Image: Heteromeles arbutifolia (Toyon), a common chaparral shrub in California. Plant secondary chemistry differs between populations on the California mainland and the nearby Channel Islands.

I am especially interested in the recent global range expansion of the monarch butterfly. Over recent evolutionary history, monarchs have expanded across the Pacific, the Atlantic, and into the Caribbean and South America, where they form non-migratory, year-round breeding populations.

Image: Monarchs from Puerto Rico (left) and North America (right) reared under common greenhouse conditions

My dissertation focused on contemporary evolution in recently-established monarch populations around the world. I use a combination of population genetics, greenhouse experiments, and museum collections to test evolutionary hypotheses.

Image: A monarch butterfly nectaring on Asclepias curassavica in Guam. Monarchs were first recorded in Guam in 1887.

Some of the tools I use in my research:

Population genetics

Monarchs are originally from Central and North America but can now be found around the world. When and why did this range expansion occur? How are these populations related to one another?

Chemical ecology

Monarchs feed on milkweed plants as caterpillars. How do cardenolides (toxic secondary compounds) produced by milkweeds influence monarchs and their interactions with natural enemies?