Dr. O'Grady's research focuses understanding the patterns and processes that generate and maintain biological diversity. Research projects in his laboratory cover a range of biological disciplines including morphology and taxonomy, phylogenetic systematics, population genetics, molecular evolution and genomics to examine the evolutionary history of endemic Hawaiian Insects, particularly flies in the family Drosophilidae. The National Science Foundation, the United States Forest Service and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation have provided funding for his research. He has authored over 100 papers, described 80 species, and has three taxa named after him, a fruit fly (Drosophilidae: Drosophila), a leaf hopper (Cicadellidae: Nesophrosyne) and a long-legged fly (Dolichopodidae: Campsicnemus).
Selected Publications:
- Hembry, DH, Bennett, GM, Bess, E, Cooper, I, Jordan, S, Liebherr, JK, Magnacca, KN, Percy, DM, Polhemus, D, Rubinoff, D, Shaw, K and O'Grady, PM. (in press). Insect Radiations on Islands: Biogeographic Pattern and Evolutionary Process in Hawaiian Insects. Quarterly Review of Biology
- Santos Rampasso, A, and O'Grady PM. 2021. Standardized terminology and visual atlas of the external morphology and terminalia for the genus Scaptomyza (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Fly 16(1): 37-61. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19336934.2021.1969220
- Syed, ZA, Dallai, R, Nasirzadeh, N, Brill, JA, O’Grady, PM, Cong, S, Leef, EM, Rice, S, Asif, A, Nguyen, S, Hansen, MM, Dorus, S, and Pitnick, S. 2021. Sperm Cyst “Looping”: A Developmental Novelty Enabling Extreme Male Ornament Evolution, Cells 10, 2762. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10102762
- Anholt, RRH, Wolfner, MF, O’Grady, PM and Harbison, ST. 2020. Evolution of Reproductive Behavior. Genetics 214 (1): 49 – 73.
- Fan, Y, O’Grady, PM, Yoshimizu, M, Ponlawat, A, Kaufman, PE, Scott, JE. 2020. Evidence for both sequential mutations and recombination in the evolution of kdr alleles in Aedes aegypti. PLOS Tropical Diseases 14(4): e0008154. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008154
- Morris, EE, O’Grady, PM, Csoka, G, Hajek, AE. 2020. Genetic variability among native and introduced strains of the parasitic nematode Deladenus siricidicola. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2020.107385
