Chris BalakrishnanPh.D. Boston UniversityNow a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Christopher N. Balakrishnan Current Email Address: cbala(at)igb.uiuc.edu
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Education:Ph.D. Boston University 2005 B.A. University of Pennsylvania 1997 Research Interests:
In my research I use a combination of molecular and behavioral approaches to study evolutionary processes. As a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, I am using a genomic approach to study the population genetics of the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata and other estrildid finches. Because of its position as a model system in studies of behavior and neurobiology and as a developing model system for genomics, the zebra finch is an ideal species on which to conduct a survey of genomic diversity. I aim to describe patterns of noncoding polymorphism and recombination in wild populations of zebra finches. These results will be contrasted with data from coding loci. In particular I will be testing for the influence of natural selection on a panel of genes of interest, such as the MHC. These studies will be among the first to assess patterns of genome-scale variation in a wild bird species. Double-barred Finch Taeniopygia bichenovii (Photo: Jeremiah Trimble) In my dissertation research, I studied a group of birds called indigobirds
(Vidua spp.).Indigobirds are host specific Cameroon Indigobird Vidua camerunensis
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Recent Publications:Balakrishnan, C.N. & M.D. Sorenson. 2007. Dispersal ecology versus host specialization as determinants of ectoparasite distribution in brood parasitic indigobirds and their estrildid finch hosts. Molecular Ecology 16: 217-229.- pdf Balakrishnan, C.N. & M.D. Sorenson. 2006. Premating reproductive isolation among sympatric indigobird species and host races. Behavioral Ecology 17: 473 - 478. - pdf Edwards, S.V., S.B. Kingan, J.D. Calkins, C.N. Balakrishnan, W.B. Jennings, W.J. Swanson & M.D. Sorenson. 2005. Speciation in birds: genes, geography, and sexual selection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 102: 6550-6557. - pdf Payne, R.B., C.R. Barlow, C.N. Balakrishnan, M.D. Sorenson. 2005. Song mimicry by brood-parasitic indigobirds Vidua camerunensis of Black-bellied Firefinch Lagonosticta rara and other finches in West Africa. Ibis 147: 130-143. - pdf Sorenson M.D., C.N. Balakrishnan, and R.B. Payne. 2004. Clade-limited colonization in brood parasitic finches (Vidua spp.). Systematic Biology 53(1): 140-153. - pdf Balakrishnan, C.N., S.L. Monfort, A. Gaur, L. Singh, M.D. Sorenson. 2003. Phylogeography and conservation genetics of the Eld's deer (Cervus eldi). Molecular Ecology 12:1-10. - pdf References:Payne, R. B.; L. L. Payne, and J. L. Woods. 1998. Song learning in brood-parasitic indigobirds Vidua chalybeata: song mimicry of the host species. Animal Behaviour 55:1537-1553. Payne, R. B.; L. L. Payne; J. L. Woods, and M. D. Sorenson. 2000. Imprinting and the origin of parasite-host species associations in brood-parasitic indigobirds, Vidua chalybeata. Animal Behaviour 59:69-81 Sorenson, M. D.; K. M. Sefc, and R. B. Payne. 2003. Speciation by host
switch in brood parasitic indigobirds. Nature 424:928-931. |
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