Professor Emeritus
Email: drl@berkeley.edu
Phone: (510) 642-3926
Research Description
The history, interactions, and relationships of the taxa that we study are the threads that unite the various temporal and spatial scales of our research. This approach requires that we employ a wide variety of techniques, including paleontological, geological, and biogeographical data, along with comparative morphology, developmental biology, long-term experimental manipulations, phylogenetic studies, and molecular techniques.
My systematic work features the Patellogastropoda, a basal group of gastropod molluscs that figure prominently in ecological studies of rocky shores around the world. We use phylogenetic hypotheses to understand adaptation and evolution in patellacean faunas around the world and through time. I also remain interested in the role of substrates in determining and augmenting community composition. Some effort in our lab is also directed at understanding the evolutionary history of California land snail taxa as well. I also investigate relationships amongst higher molluscan taxa including subclades within the Gastropoda, the "conchiferian" groups, and the phyletic position of the Mollusca on the Tree of Life.
A recurrent theme in many of these studies is the role of heterochrony, especially in the evolution of morphology, life history strategies, and reproductive systems in molluscs. This work focuses on the intersections of phylogeny and development using different developmental data sets and tools and comparisons across levels of organization and the phylogenetic hierarchy.
Research topics selected by my graduate students are often outside my own areas of interest, but share a phylogenetic framework, include fossil as well as living organisms as study taxa, and are concerned with the nearshore marine environment.
Selected Publications
Pyenson, N. and D.R. Lindberg. 2011. What happened to gray whales during the Pleistocene? Evaluating the impact of sea-level changes on feeding habitat in the North Pacific Ocean. PLoS ONE.
Lindberg, D. R. 2009. Monoplacophorans and the origin and relationships of mollusks. Evolution: Education and Outreach. 2: 191-203.
Doak, D., J. A. Estes, B. Halpern, U. Jacob, D. R. Lindberg, J. Lovvorn, D. Monson, M. T. Tinker, T. Williams, J. T. Wootton, I. Carroll, M. Emmerson, F. Micheli, and M. Novak. 2008. Understanding and predicting ecological dynamics: Are major surprises inevitable? Ecology 89(4):952-961.
Ponder, W. F. and D. R. Lindberg . (eds.) 2008. Phylogeny and Evolution of the Mollusca. University of California Press, Berkeley, 469 pp.
Bunje, P. M. E. and D. R. Lindberg. 2007. Molecular phylogeny of a freshwater snail clade reveals lineage divergence associated with post-Tethyan marine basin development. Mol. Phyl. Evol. 42: 373-387.
Simison, W.B., D.R. Lindberg, and J.L. Boore. 2006. Rolling circle amplification of metazoan mitochondrial genomes. Mol. Phyl. Evol. 39(2): 562-567.