Kenneth H. KozakKenneth H. Kozak


Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology

Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles, Bell Museum of Natural History
Phone: 612 624-3982
E-mail: kozak016@umn.edu
Ph.D., Washington University

Graduate Faculty Memberships

Conservation Biology
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

Fields of Interest

Phylogeography, molecular ecology, and historical biogeography of amphibians and reptiles; biodiversity informatics; applications of GIS to evolutionary biology, ecology, and conservation biology.

Amphibian and Reptile Collection at the Bell Museum.

Courses

  • FW 4101 Herpetology

Research

Research in my laboratory uses amphibians and reptiles as a study system to understand the evolutionary and ecological mechanisms by which species diversify and accumulate through time. Much of our work involves reconstructing the evolutionary history of populations and species using molecular data. We then combine that information with spatial-environmental data to investigate how climatic variation, geology, and other features of the landscape influence patterns of genetic variation and species diversity. Ongoing research in the lab is focused on (1) phylogeography and speciation in temperate and tropical salamanders, (2) the influence of climate change on the evolution and persistence of montane amphibians, and (3) understanding how evolutionary history and climatic variation interact to drive latitudinal and elevational variation in species diversity.

Selected Publications

  • Kozak, K. H., C. H. Graham, and J. J. Wiens. 2008. Integrating GIS-based environmental data into evolutionary biology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution (in press).
  • Kozak, K. H., and J. J. Wiens. 2007. Climate zonation drives latitudinal variation in speciation mechanisms. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 274: 2995-3003.
  • Bonett, R. M., K. H. Kozak, D. R. Vietes, A. Bare, J. A. Wooten, and S. E. Trauth. 2007. The importance of comparative phylogeography in diagnosing introduced species: a lesson from the seal salamander, Desmognathus monticola. BMC Ecology 7: 7.
  • Kozak, K. H., and J. J. Wiens. 2006. Does niche conservatism promote speciation? A case study in North American salamanders. Evolution 60: 2604-2621.
  • Kozak, K. H., R. A. Blaine, and A. Larson. 2006. Gene lineages and eastern North American paleodrainage basins: phylogeography and speciation in salamanders of the Eurycea bislineata species complex. Molecular Ecology 15: 191-207.
  • Kozak, K. H., D. W. Weisrock, and A. Larson. 2006. Rapid lineage accumulation in a non-adaptive radiation: phylogenetic analysis of diversification in eastern North American woodland salamanders (Plethodontidae: Plethodon). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 273: 539-546.