Dr. Lavretsky's research program is interdisciplinary and transcends landscape, evolutionary, and conservation genomics to study speciation, evolution, adaptation, and the role of gene flow. Overall objectives of his research are to determine the distribution of genetic diversity across species’ ranges to understand (1) the extent to which adaptive and non-adaptive genetic diversity shapes population structure, including (2) what genes are responsible for geographic adaption versus alternative selective pressures (e.g., sexual selection), (3) how contemporary pressures influence a species’ adaptive landscape, and (4) how best to use this information to establish better management and conservation practices. To answer these questions, Dr. Lavretsky employs next-generation techniques to generate genome-wide markers for various taxa and to link genetic variation to species or population traits of interest.