Marguerite Butler
PhD Washington University in St. Louis (Evolutionary and Population Biology), 1998
Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology
Department of Zoology, University of Hawai`i
2538 McCarthy Mall, Edmondson 152
Honolulu, HI 96822
phone: (808) 956-4713
fax: (808) 956-9812
mbutler at hawaii.edu
Visit my lab website

Functional morphology, biomechanics, phylogenetics, macroevolution, modeling, and statistics

At the simplest level, I am interested in how animals function, and the interaction between morphological design (what variations can animals have), environmental needs (or selective pressures), and evolutionary history (phylogeny).

I am especially interested in sexual dimorphism, especially where males and females differ in ways that are important for function or ecology. Sexual dimorphism is a great phenomenon to study because it not only provides a window into the biology of a species, but also can help us to understand the functional significance of morphological variation.

Why does a feature evolve? Is it a result of natural selection? Testing hypotheses of natural selection and adaptation requires flexible and powerful analytical methods. I work on phylogenetic methods which aim to combine phylogenetic relationships (or species pedigree) with our ideas of biological process to explicitly model the tempo and mode of evolution.

Current projects in the lab include:

Biomechanics of locomotion in iguanas and the effects of reproduction
The evolution of sexual dimorphism in Anolis lizards
Color vision, target detection, and behavior in Hawaiian Megalagrion damselflies
Phylogenetic methods for adaptive evolution using a direct modeling approach

Please see my lab website for details and lab equipment.

Representative Publications
Butler M.A. (June 25, 2007) Vive le difference! Sexual dimorphism and adaptive patterns in Anolis lizards. Integrative and Comparative Biology doi:10.1093/icb/icm061

Scales J. and Butler M. (June 18, 2007) Are powerful females powerful enough? Acceleration in gravid green iguanas (Iguana iguana). Integrative and Comparative Biology doi:10.1093/icb/icm054

Butler M.A., Sawyer S. A., and Losos J.B. (2007) Sexual dimorphism and adaptive radiation in Anolis lizards. Nature 447:202-205.

Cox R. M., Butler M. A., and John-Alder H. B. (in press) The evolution of sexual size dimorphism in reptiles. in: D. J. Fairbairn, W. U. Blackenhorn, and T. Szekely (eds.), Sex, Size and Gender Roles: Evolutionary Studies of Sexual Size Dimorphism. Oxford University Press.

Butler M.A. (2005) Time budget and foraging mode of an old-world chameleon, Bradypodion pumilum: are chameleons really unusual? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 84:797-808.

Butler M.A. and King A.A. (2004) Phylogenetic comparative analysis: a modeling approach for adaptive evolution. The American Naturalist 164(6):683-695.

Losos J.B., Butler M.A., and Schoener,T.W. (2003) Sexual dimorphism in size and shape in relation to habitat use in Caribbean Anolis lizards. in J. Kelly McCoy, Stanley F. Fox, and Troy A. Baird (eds.), Variation in Lizard Social Behavior: Individuals, Populations, and Species. Pp. 356-380. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

Butler M.A. and Losos J.B. (2002) Multivariate sexual dimorphism, sexual selection, and adaptation in Greater Antillean Anolis lizards. Ecological Monographs 72(4):541-559.

Butler M.A. Schoener T.W., and Losos J.B. (2000) The relationship between habitat type and sexual size dimorphism in Greater Antillean Anolis lizards. Evolution 54(1): 259-272.

Butler M.A. and Losos J.B. (1997) Testing for unequal amounts of evolution in a continuous character on different branches of a phylogenetic tree using linear and squared-change parsimony: An example using Lesser Antillean lizards. Evolution 51(5): 1623-1635.

Butler M.A. Templeton A.R., and Read B. (1994) DNA fingerprinting in Speke's gazelle: a test for genetic distinctness, and the correlation between relatedness and similarity. Molecular Ecology 3: 355-361.

Bolker J.A., Butler M.A., Kissinger J., Riley M.A. (1997) Addressing the gender gap in evolutionary biology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 12(1): 46-47.

[return to top]