Research Interests

Alan's work involves the application of molecular genetic techniques and statistical population genetics to a variety of evolutionary problems, both basic and applied. He applies evolutionary approaches to clinical genetics, including the study of the genetics of complex diseases, such as coronary artery disease and end-stage kidney disease, and to viral evolution. He also applies evolutionary genetics to conservation biology, with his main current focus being the impact of managed forest fires at the landscape level upon the genetic population structure of species inhabiting that landscape, such as the Eastern collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris collaris) and lichen hoppers (Trimerotropis saxatilis) and the impact of human activities upon dispersal in the endangered fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra infraimmuculata) in Northern Israel and the wild ass in Southern Israel. Finally, he is interested in basic questions about evolution, such as the meaning of "species" and the mechanisms by which new species evolve, and human evolution over the last two million years.

Photo caption: A grasshopper, Trimerotropis saxatilis.

Selected Publications

Templeton, A. R. 2007. Perspective: Genetics and recent human evolution. Evol. 61:1507-1519.

Templeton, A. R., J. L. Neuwald, H. Brazeal, and R. J. Robertson. 2007. Restoring Demographic Processes in Translocated Populations: The Case of Collared Lizards in the Missouri Ozarks Using Prescribed Forest Fires. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution 53:179 - 196.

Bercovici, S., D. Geiger, L. Shlush, K. Skorecki, and A. Templeton. 2008. Panel Construction for Mapping in Admixed Populations Via Expected Mutual Information. Pp. 435-449. Research in Computational Molecular Biology. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg.

Templeton, A. R. 2008. The reality and importance of founder speciation in evolution. BioEssays 30:470-479.

Templeton, A. R. 2008. Gene Flow, Haplotype Patterns and Modern Human Origins in D. N. Cooper, and H. Kehrer-Sawatzki, eds. Handbook of Human Molecular Evolution. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co., Weinheim, Germany.

Climer, S., G. Jager, A. R. Templeton, and W. Zhang. 2009. How frugal is Mother Nature with haplotypes? Bioinformatics 25:68-74.

Templeton, A. R. 2009. Statistical hypothesis testing in intraspecific phylogeography: nested clade phylogeographical analysis vs. approximate Bayesian computation. Mol. Ecol. 18:319-331.

Templeton, A. R., M. Kramer, J. Jarvis, J. Kowalski, S. Gange, M. Schneider, Q. Shao, G. W. Zhang, M.-F. Yeh, H.-L. Tsai, H. Zhang, and R. Markham. 2009. Multiple-infection and recombination in HIV-1 within a longitudinal cohort of women. Retrovirology 6:54.