Albert is using molecular methods to assess population connectivity in the Caribbean sea slugs Elysia pratensis and E. subornata. These sister species have benthic development, producing larvae that mature and metamorphose within egg masses on the bottom; as they have no dispersing larval stage, we predicted high genetic divergence between islands for both species. Preliminary results for E. pratensis show high levels of endemism with highly divergent clades restricted to different islands in the Caribbean; E. subornata has comparatively shallow phylogeographic breaks but is also highly structured, as expected for a species with no swimming larval stage. Surprisingly, phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial COI haplotypes from the northern Bahamas uncovered clades of E. pratensis that are more related to E. subornata than to conspecifics; this suggests hybridization and historical introgression of E. subornata mtDNA into the E. pratensis genome. As the species have fixed differences in the nuclear 28S gene, introgression may be limited to cytoplasmic DNA. As E. subornata has been proposed as a biological control agent for the invasive alga Caulerpa, its potential for hybridization with other species warrants careful attention.
Albert previously studied phylogeography in chitons with Doug Eernisse at Cal State Fullerton, and plans to pursue a Ph.D. following completion of his M.S. degree. He volunteers at the Cabrillo Aquarium.
He has presented his research at the following conferences: