Lab Research
Dr. Anderson's primary research interests are molluscan phylogeny, population genetics and ecology, with particular focus on cephalopods and
land snails. These lineages represent two extremes of the molluscan radiation. One is a group of active
marine predators with an array of fascinating behaviors, while the other is the only molluscan lineage to invade terrestrial habitats. He is also interested in metazoan phylogeny
(relationships among the animal phyla), phylogenetic taxonomy and various theoretical issues in phylogenetic analysis. Ongoing research projects in my lab include 1) development
of new nuclear protein-coding loci for studies of metazoan phylogeny, 2) phylogeography of various cephalopods, including the commercially important pharaoh cuttle
(Sepia pharaonis), 3) molecular and morphological investigations of loliginid squid phylogeny, 4) population genetics and phylogeny of various land snails (at this point, primarily Polygyridae and Anguispira) and
5) patterns of land snail diversity, distribution and abundance in southern Illinois. In his copious spare time, Dr. Anderson helps other people here at SIUC analyze their data sets, which has made him an instant expert
on really big parasitic plants (a collaboration with Dr. Dan Nickrent in the SIUC Department of Plant
Biology), something called the Maltese Mushroom (another collaboration with Dr. Nickrent), and he is even helping with a phylogenetic study of cranes
(the big birds, not the big machines) with his colleague Dr. Carey Krajewski in the SIUC Department of Zoology.