• BS, Biology, Grand Valley State University
• MS & PhD, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan
• Postdoctoral Research, Penn State University
  

• By appointment

Research in the Baiz Lab is focused on understanding the evolutionary processes that underlie the formation of new species. We use natural hybrid zones and young species radiations to address questions like, what mechanisms maintain reproductive isolation between taxa? What traits help divergent populations adapt to their environment? How do symbiotic communities respond to evolutionary divergence of their hosts? Hybridization allows unique traits and mutations to become shuffled, allowing us to associate specific gene regions with phenotypes of interest. Our lab uses genomic techniques to identify regions of the genome that underlie the speciation process and to study the role of the host-associated microbiomes in diversification.

• Baiz MD, Benavides C. A, Miller E, Wood AW, Toews DPL. 2023. Gut microbiome composition better reflects host phylogeny than diet diversity in breeding wood-warblers. Molecular Ecology 32: 518-536. doi.org/10.1111/mec.16762
• Baiz MD*, Wood AW, Brelsford A, Lovette IL, Toews DPL*. 2021. Pigmentation genes show evidence of repeated divergence and multiple bouts of introgression in Setophaga warblers. Current Biology 31: 643-649.e3. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.094
• Baiz MD, Wood AW, Toews DPL. 2021. Rare hybrid may solve ‘genetic problem’ of linked plumage traits. Ecology 102: e03424. doi:10.1002/ecy.3424
• Baiz MD, Tucker PK, Mueller JL, Cortés-Ortiz L. 2020. X-linked signature of reproductive isolation is mirrored in a howler monkey hybrid zone. Journal of Heredity 111: 419–428. doi:10.1093/jhered/esaa021
• Baiz MD, Kramer GR, Streby HS, Taylor SA, Lovette IL, Toews DPL. 2020. Genomic and plumage variation in Vermivora hybrids. The Auk: Ornithological Advances 137. doi:10.1093/auk/ukaa027
• Baiz MD, Cortés-Ortiz L, Tucker PK. 2019. Multiple forms of selection shape reproductive isolation in a primate hybrid zone. Molecular Ecology 28: 1056–1069. doi:10.1111/mec.14966
• Cortés-Ortiz L*, Baiz MD*, Hermida-Lagunes J, Garcia-Orduña F, Rangel-Negrín A, Kitchen DM., Bergman TB, Canales-Espinosa D, Dias PAD. 2019. Reduced introgression of sex chromosome markers in the Mexican howler monkey (Alouatta palliata x A. pigra) hybrid zone. International Journal of Primatology 40: 114–131. doi:10.1007/s10764-018-0056-4
• Ackermann RR, Arnold ML, Baiz MD, Cahill JA, Cortés-Ortiz L, Evans B, Grant PR, Grant BR, Hallgrimsson B, Humphreys R, Jolly CJ, Malukiewicz J, Percival CJ, Ritzman T, Roos C, Roseman CC, Schroeder L, Smith FH, Warren K, Wayne R, Zinner D. 2019. Hybridization in human evolution: insights from other organisms. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 28:189–209. doi:10.1002/evan.21787
• Baiz MD, Cortés-Ortiz L. 2015. Intragroup genetic relatedness in two howler monkey species (Alouatta pigra and A. palliata): Implications for understanding social systems and dispersal. American Journal of Primatology 77: 1333-1345. doi:10.1002/ajp.22487