Webb lab

Colleen Webb

I am broadly interested in the evolution of traits important in ecological interactions and in how such evolution shapes ecosystems. I use a theoretical framework to study how selection at the individual-level affects the extinction and persistence of populations or ecosystems. For example, I have investigated how the indirect effects of selection can affect a population’s environment, resulting in decreased mean fitness and extinction. Currently, I am looking at how ecosystem level characteristics, like modularity, enhance the robustness of ecosystems to disturbance (resiliency), and whether these higher level characteristics can evolve from selection at the individual level. I work in a number of different systems and use a variety of analytical and simulation methods. In addition, I maintain a strong interest in comparative and ecological genomics.
Teaching
CV
Links to selected papers:
Webb, C.T. and O. Bodin. In press. A network perspective on modularity and control of flow in robust systems. In: A Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Social-Ecological Systems. J. Norberg and G. Cumming (Eds.). Columbia University Press. \|pdf\|
Webb, C.T., C.P. Brooks, K.L. Gage, and M.F. Antolin. 2006. Classic flea-borne transmission does not drive plague epizootics in prairie dogs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103: 6236-6241. \|pdf\|
Simmons, M.P., Zhang, L.B., Webb, C.T., Reeves, A., and J.A. Miller. 2006. The relative performance of Bayesian and parsimony approaches when sampling characters evolving under homogeneous and heterogeneous sets of parameters. Cladistics 22: 171-185. \|pdf\|
Achter, J.A. and C.T. Webb. 2006. Pair statistics clarify percolation properties of spatially explicit simulations. Theoretical Population Biology 69: 155-164. \|pdf\|
Webb, C.T. and S.A. Levin. 2005. Cross-system perspectives on the ecology and evolution of resilience. In: Robust Design: A Repertoire of Biological, Ecological, and Engineering Case Studies. E. Jen (Ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 151-172. \|pdf\|
Hacker, J., J. Hansen, J. Berner, Y. Chen, G. Eshel, G. Hakim, T. Hamill, S. Lazarus, R. Majumdar, R. Morss, A. Poje, V. Sheremet, Y. Tang, and C. Webb. 2005. Future Scientific Directions: Predictability. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 86: 1733-1737. \|pdf\|
Bieda, M. and C.T. Webb. 2004. Distribution and patterns of CNSs in a Caenorhabditis gene family. Santa Fe Institute Working Papers Series #04-09-026. \|pdf\|
Webb, C.T. 2003. A complete classification of Darwinian extinction in ecological interactions. American Naturalist 161: 181-205. \|pdf\|
Hatch, L., M. Uriarte, D. Fink, L. Aldrich-Wolfe, R. Allen, C. Webb, K. Zamudio, and A. Power. 2002. Jurisdiction over endangered species’ habitat: the impacts of people and property on recovery planning. Ecological Applications 12: 690-700. \|pdf\|
Webb, C.T., S.A. Shabalina, A.Yu. Ogurtsov and A.S. Kondrashov. 2002. Analysis of similarity within 142 pairs of orthologous intergenic regions of Caenorhabditis elegans and C. briggsae Nucleic Acids Research 30: 1233-1239. \|pdf\|
Yampolsky, L.Yu., C.T. Webb, S.A. Shabalina, and A.S. Kondrashov. 1999. Rapid accumulation of a vertically transmitted parasite triggered by relaxation of natural selection among hosts. Evolutionary Ecology Research 1: 581-589. \|pdf\|
Bronikowski, A. and C. Webb. 1996. Appendix: A critical examination of rainfall variability measures in behavioral ecology. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 39: 27-30.

I am broadly interested in the evolution of traits important in ecological interactions and in how such evolution shapes ecosystems. I use a theoretical framework to study how selection at the individual-level affects the extinction and persistence of populations or ecosystems. For example, I have investigated how the indirect effects of selection can affect a population’s environment, resulting in decreased mean fitness and extinction. Currently, I am looking at how ecosystem level characteristics, like modularity, enhance the robustness of ecosystems to disturbance (resiliency), and whether these higher level characteristics can evolve from selection at the individual level. I work in a number of different systems and use a variety of analytical and simulation methods. In addition, I maintain a strong interest in comparative and ecological genomics.
Teaching
CV
Links to selected papers:
Webb, C.T. and O. Bodin. In press. A network perspective on modularity and control of flow in robust systems. In: A Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Social-Ecological Systems. J. Norberg and G. Cumming (Eds.). Columbia University Press. \|pdf\|
Webb, C.T., C.P. Brooks, K.L. Gage, and M.F. Antolin. 2006. Classic flea-borne transmission does not drive plague epizootics in prairie dogs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103: 6236-6241. \|pdf\|
Simmons, M.P., Zhang, L.B., Webb, C.T., Reeves, A., and J.A. Miller. 2006. The relative performance of Bayesian and parsimony approaches when sampling characters evolving under homogeneous and heterogeneous sets of parameters. Cladistics 22: 171-185. \|pdf\|
Achter, J.A. and C.T. Webb. 2006. Pair statistics clarify percolation properties of spatially explicit simulations. Theoretical Population Biology 69: 155-164. \|pdf\|
Webb, C.T. and S.A. Levin. 2005. Cross-system perspectives on the ecology and evolution of resilience. In: Robust Design: A Repertoire of Biological, Ecological, and Engineering Case Studies. E. Jen (Ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 151-172. \|pdf\|
Hacker, J., J. Hansen, J. Berner, Y. Chen, G. Eshel, G. Hakim, T. Hamill, S. Lazarus, R. Majumdar, R. Morss, A. Poje, V. Sheremet, Y. Tang, and C. Webb. 2005. Future Scientific Directions: Predictability. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 86: 1733-1737. \|pdf\|
Bieda, M. and C.T. Webb. 2004. Distribution and patterns of CNSs in a Caenorhabditis gene family. Santa Fe Institute Working Papers Series #04-09-026. \|pdf\|
Webb, C.T. 2003. A complete classification of Darwinian extinction in ecological interactions. American Naturalist 161: 181-205. \|pdf\|
Hatch, L., M. Uriarte, D. Fink, L. Aldrich-Wolfe, R. Allen, C. Webb, K. Zamudio, and A. Power. 2002. Jurisdiction over endangered species’ habitat: the impacts of people and property on recovery planning. Ecological Applications 12: 690-700. \|pdf\|
Webb, C.T., S.A. Shabalina, A.Yu. Ogurtsov and A.S. Kondrashov. 2002. Analysis of similarity within 142 pairs of orthologous intergenic regions of Caenorhabditis elegans and C. briggsae Nucleic Acids Research 30: 1233-1239. \|pdf\|
Yampolsky, L.Yu., C.T. Webb, S.A. Shabalina, and A.S. Kondrashov. 1999. Rapid accumulation of a vertically transmitted parasite triggered by relaxation of natural selection among hosts. Evolutionary Ecology Research 1: 581-589. \|pdf\|
Bronikowski, A. and C. Webb. 1996. Appendix: A critical examination of rainfall variability measures in behavioral ecology. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 39: 27-30.