David Houle
Houle, David

About fellow
I am an evolutionary geneticist who studies the relationship between genetic variation and adaptation. This means that I have been studying evolvability my whole career. I would love to know the answer to the following questions: Why do some traits have more variation than others? Why do some traits evolve faster than others? Is evolution predictable? In my experimental work we use the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as an experimental organisms. Flies are wonderful for evolutionary studies because they have interesting and complex adaptations and behaviors, yet are easily and rapidly reared. My major experimental project studies the relationship between evolvability and pleiotropy of the appendages of Drosophila as a model.