Education and Professional Experience

• 2011-present Associate Professor and Aresty Chair, University of Miami
• 2009-2010 Associate Professor, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
• 2004-2009 Assistant Professor, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
• 2002-2004 Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University, CA
• 2000-2002 Postdoctoral Fellow in Biological Informatics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
• 2000 Ph.D. in Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
• 1994 B.A. in Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA

Grants and Awards

• National Geographic Society, Committee for Research and Exploration grant. 2012-2013. On the origin of species on islands: How variation within populations leads to fixed differences between incipient species.

• National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biological Informatics. 2000-2002. Signal Evolution and Speciation in Paradise Kingfishers.
• National Geographic Society, Committee for Research and Exploration grant. 2001-2002. Signal Evolution and Speciation in Kingfishers.
• San Francisco State University mini-grant. 2003. Can Changes in the Visual Environment Drive Speciation in Guppies.
• National Science Foundation starter grant. 2002-2003. Signal Divergence and Speciation in Bearded Manakins
• National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates supplement. 2009.
• National Science Foundation CAREER grant. 2007-2012. Factors that shape the evolution of multimodal signals in the chestnut-bellied flycatcher.

Areas of Focus

• Evolutionary Biology
• Behavioral Ecology
• Ecology
• Tropical Ecology
• Conservation Biology

Research Interests

The tropics harbor the greatest diversity on the planet. However, we still know little about the mechanisms that create and maintain this striking diversity. Using an interdisciplinary approach, research in the Uy lab aims to elucidate how biological diversity is generated and maintained in tropical and island systems. Our current focus is to understand the link between mating signal diversification, and the ecology and evolution of reproductive isolation. Divergence in mating signals has been shown to create and maintain reproductive isolation, yet the underlying genetic changes and selective mechanisms causing this divergence remain little understood. We use an integrative and modern approach, which includes molecular phylogenetics, evolutionary genetics, population genetics, genomics, and behavioral and sensory ecology.

Selected Publications

• Concannon, M.R., A.C. Stein, & J.A.C. Uy. 2012. Kin selection may mediate lek evolution & trait introgression across a hybrid zone. Molec Ecology 21: 1477-1486.

• Hurtado-Gonzales, J.L., D.T. Baldassarre & J.A.C. Uy. 2010. Interaction between female mating preferences and predation may explain the maintenance of rare males in the pentamorphic fish Poecilia parae. J of Evol. Biol. 23: 1293-1301. (IF: 3.66)

• Uy, J.A.C., R.G. Moyle, C.E. Filardi & Z.A. Cheviron. 2009. Difference in plumage color used in species recognition between incipient species is linked to a single amino acid substitution in the melanocortin-1 receptor. American Naturalist. 174: 244-254.

•  Uy, J.A.C., R. Moyle & C.E. Filardi. 2009. Plumage color & song differences mediate species recognition between incipient flycatcher species of the Solomon Islands. Evolution63: 153-164.

• Hurtado-Gonzales, J.L. & J.A.C. Uy. 2009. Alternative mating strategies may favor the persistence of a genetically based colour polymorphism in a pentamorphic fish. Animal Behaviour 77: 1187-1194.

• Uy, J.A.C. & G. Borgia. 2000. Sexual selection drives rapid divergence in bowerbird display traits.  Evolution, 54: 273-278.