Sara Via

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Professor
Email: svia@umd.edu
Office Phone: 301-405-8941
Fax: 301-314-9290
Office Address: Entomology Department * Plant Sciences Building * University of Maryland * College Park, MD 20742
URL: http://www.entmclasses.umd.edu/labs/via/ViaLab.html

Teaching
  • Experimental Approaches to Evolution
  • Introduction to Organismal Biology
  • Introduction to Organismal Biology
  • Evolutionary Mechanisms

    • Graduate Program Affiliations
    • BISI - BISI-Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, & Systematics (BEES)
    Research Interests
    My work in insect plant interactions has focused on the pea aphid system, in which sympatric populations of pea aphids feed on two distantly related legumes (alfalfa and red clover) in agricultural settings. The aphids on the two hosts are highly genetically differentiated and locally adapted to the different hosts, despite close physical proximity. Recent work has shown that there is little gene flow between the sympatric populations on the two hosts, suggesting that these populations may be incipient species. The choice of host plants by winged (alate) colonists is largely responsible for the reproductive isolation that we see between the host-associated populations. My major research project at the moment concerns the genetic architecture of the extreme host plant specialization that we observe among populations of this species on the two hosts. My lab, in collaboration with the lab of Dr. David Hawthorne (Department of Entomology) is using a large crossing study between specialist genotypes to locate and enumerate the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) involved in host plant specialization and reproductive isolation. Other research interests include a phylogeographical analysis of locally adapted pea aphid populations on alfalfa and clover. My lab is also very interested in genetic mechanisms of interactions between insects and their parasitoids and disease. More information on all of these projects may be found on the our lab website athttp://www.entmclasses.umd.edu/labs/via/ViaLab.umd.edu

    Recent Publications
    • Via, S., and A.J. Shaw. 1996. Clonal genetic variability and short term evolution in the size and shape of pea aphids. Evolution 50:163-173.
    • McCulloch, C.E., M.D. Boudreau, and S. Via. 1996. Confidence regions for evolutionary trajectories. Biometrics 52:219-227.
    • Via, S., and D.J. Hawthorne. 1998. The genetics of speciation: Promises and prospects of QTL mapping. (In: Endless Forms: Species and Speciation. S. Berlocher and D. Howard [eds]).
    • Via, S. 1999. Cannibalism facilitates the use of a novel environment in the flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. Heredity. 82: 267-275.
    • Via, S. 1999. Reproductive isolation between sympatric races of pea aphids. I. Gene flow restriction and habitat choice. Evolution. 53: 1446-1457.
    • Van Nouhuys, S., and S. Via. 1999. Variability of foraging behavior in a wasp parasitoid: Differences between populations and habitats. Heredity. 83: 127-137.
    • Hufbauer, R., and S. Via. 1999. Evolution of an aphid parasitoid interaction: Variation in resistance to parasitism among aphid populations specialized on different plants.Evolution. 53: 1435-1445.
    • Caillaud, C.M., and S. Via. 2000. Specialized feeding behavior influences both ecological specialization and asortative mating in symptric bost races of pea aphids. American Naturalist. 156: 606-621.
    • Via, S., A. Bouck, and S. Skillman. 2000. Reproductive isolation between sympatric races of pea aphids. II. Selection against migrants and hybrids in the parental environments. Evolution. 54: 1626-1637.
    • Via, S. 2001. Sympatric speciation: the ugly duckling grows up. Trends Ecol. Evol. 16: 381-390.
    • Hawthorne, D.J., and S. Via. 2001. Genetic linkage of ecological specialization and reproductive isolation on pea aphids. Nature 412: 904-907.
    • Via, S. 2002. Ecological genetics of speciation. American Naturalist. 159: S1-S7.
    • Via, S., and D.J. Hawthorne. 2002. Genetic architecture of ecological specialization and incipient speciation in divergent races of pea aphid. American Naturalist. 159: S47-S60.
    • De Campo, M.L., S. Via., and M.C. Caillaud. 2003. Recognition of host-specific chemical stimulants in two sympatric host races of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. Ecological Entomology. 28: 405-412.
    • Via, S., and D.J. Hawthorne. 2005. Back to the Future: Genetic Correlations, Adaptation and Speciation. Genetica. 123: 147-156.
    • Ferrari, J Godfray HC, Faulconbridge AS, Prior K, Via S. 2006. Population differentiation and genetic variation in host choice among pea aphids from eight host plant genera. Evolution. 60: 1574-1584.
    • Via, S., and J. West. 2008. The genetic mosaic suggests a new role for hitchhiking in ecological speciation. Molecular Ecology. 17: 4334-4345.
    • Ferrari, J., Via, S., Godfray, H.C.J. 2008. Population differentiation and genetic variation in performance of pea aphids on plants from eight host genera. Evolution. 62: 2508-2523.
    • Via, S. 2009. Natural selection in action during speciation. PNAS 106: 9939-9946.

    Awards
    • 1974 Magna cum Laude, Duke University
    • 1974 Edward C. Horn Prize for Excellence in Zoology, Duke University
    • 1974-76 Fellowship and Travel Award, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
    • 1982-83 NIH Traineeship, Duke University Program in Genetics
    • 1983-84 National Research Service Award, NIH-PHS
    • 1986-89 Searle Scholars Award, Chicago Community Trust
    • 1999 Vice President-Elect and Exec. Council, American Society of Naturalists
    • 2000 Vice President, American Society of Naturalists
    • 2001-2 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, University of Maryland

    Education
  • B.A. 1974 Duke University, Durham, NC (Zoology)
  • M.Sc. 1976 Australian National University, Canberra, Australia (Insect Neurobiology)
  • Ph.D. 1983 Duke University, Durham, NC (Zoology , minor in Statistics)
  • Postdoc. 1983-84 University of Chicago (Evolution and Genetics)