Scott Taylor

Associate Professor • Director, Mountain Research Station •
• Evolutionary ecology • Population genomics

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

scott.a.taylor@colorado.edu

Bio

Hybridization, speciation, evolutionary ecology, and population genomics (primarily of birds); impacts of anthropogenic change on species distributions, interactions, and evolution.

Check out the Taylor Lab website for more about the work of my research group, including the Boulder Chickadee Study, and my teaching and publications. Graduate and undergraduate students can also find information about joining the lab.

Education

PhD: Queen's University, 2011

Research

My research applies genomics and field experiments to natural hybrid zones and closely related taxa in order to investigate the architecture of reproductive isolation—the hallmark of speciation—and the genetic bases of traits relevant to speciation. This research also provides insight into the impacts of anthropogenic change, including climate change, on species distributions, interactions, and evolution.

Publications

Recent publications

Anthropogenic Change and the Process of Speciation

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors:

Alund M; Cenzer M; Bierne N; Boughman JW; Cerca J; Comerford MS; Culicchi A; Langerhans B; Mcfarlane SE; Most MH...

Alund M
Cenzer M
Bierne N
Boughman JW
Cerca J
Comerford MS
Culicchi A
Langerhans B
Mcfarlane SE
Most MH

Published in: Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology
Publication Date: 2023-12-01
Type: Journal Article

Quantitative Analyses of Coupling in Hybrid Zones

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Firneno Jr TJ; Semenov G; Dopman EB; Taylor SA; Larson EL; Gompert Z

Published in: Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology
Publication Date: 2023-12-01
Type: Journal Article

Similar parasite communities but dissimilar infection patterns in two closely related chickadee species

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Theodosopoulos AN; Grabenstein KC; Larrieu ME; Arnold V; Taylor SA

Published in: Auk: a quarterly journal of ornithology
Publication Date: 2023-09-27
Type: Journal Article

Slow birding: The art and science of enjoying the birds in your own backyard

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Padula SR; Addison N; Patel AM; Buell A; Kenyon HL; Taylor SA

Published in: Condor: an international journal of avian biology
Publication Date: 2023-08-11
Type: Journal Article

Hybridization provides climate resilience

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Turbek SP; Taylor SA

Published in: Nature Climate Change
Publication Date: 2023-03-01
Type: Journal Article

The genetic basis of plumage coloration and elevation adaptation in a clade of recently diverged alpine and arctic songbirds

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Funk ER; Spellman GM; Winker K; Withrow JJ; Ruegg KC; Taylor SA

Published in: Evolution
Publication Date: 2023-03-01
Type: Journal Article

Survey of haemosporidian parasite infections in an endangered high alpine bird

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Theodosopoulos AN; Spellman GM; Taylor SA

Published in: Parasites and Vectors
Publication Date: 2023-02-14
Type: Journal Article

Hybridization between closely related songbirds is related to human habitat disturbance

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Grabenstein KC; Otter KA; Burg TM; Taylor SA

Published in: Global Change Biology
Publication Date: 2023-02-01
Type: Journal Article

Sympatry leads to reduced body condition in chickadees that occasionally hybridize

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Grabenstein KC; Otter KA; Burg TM; Taylor SA

Published in: Ecology and Evolution
Publication Date: 2022-04-01
Type: Journal Article

Estimating hybridization in the wild using citizen science data: A path forward

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Minor NR; Dougherty PJ; Taylor SA; Carling MD

Published in: Evolution
Publication Date: 2022-02-01
Type: Journal Article

The genetic basis of spatial cognitive variation in a food-caching bird

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Branch CL; Semenov GA; Wagner DN; Sonnenberg BR; Pitera AM; Bridge ES; Taylor SA; Pravosudov VV

Published in: Current Biology
Publication Date: 2022-01-10
Type: Journal Article

A supergene underlies linked variation in color and morphology in a Holarctic songbird

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Funk ER; Mason NA; Palsson S; Albrecht T; Johnson JA; Taylor SA

Published in: Nature Communications
Publication Date: 2021-11-25
Type: Journal Article

A highly invasive malaria parasite has expanded its range to non-migratory birds in North America

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Theodosopoulos AN; Grabenstein KC; Bensch S; Taylor SA

Published in: Biology Letters
Publication Date: 2021-09-08
Type: Journal Article

Extensive historical and contemporary hybridization suggests premating isolation in Vermivora warblers is not strong: A reply to Confer et al.

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Toews DPL; Baiz MD; Kramer GR; Lovette IJ; Streby HM; Taylor SA

Published in: Ecology and Evolution
Publication Date: 2021-08-01
Type: Journal Article

Achromatic plumage variation between and within hybridizing Black-capped and Mountain chickadees

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Feldmann KB; Grabenstein KC; Taylor SA

Published in: Journal of Field Ornithology
Publication Date: 2021-06-01
Type: Journal Article

Phylogenomic Data Reveal Widespread Introgression Across the Range of an Alpine and Arctic Specialist

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Funk ER; Spellman GM; Winker K; Withrow JJ; Ruegg KC; Zavaleta E; Taylor SA

Published in: Systematic Biology
Publication Date: 2021-05-01
Type: Journal Article

Dense sampling of bird diversity increases power of comparative genomics (vol 587, pg 252, 2020)

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Feng S; Stiller J; Deng Y; Armstrong J; Fang Q; Reeve AH; Xie D; Chen G; Guo C; Faircloth BC

Published in: Nature
Publication Date: 2021-04-29
Type: Journal Article

Genomic and acoustic differences separate Lilian's Meadowlark (Sturnella magna lilianae) from Eastern (S. magna) and Western (S. neglecta) meadowlarks

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Beam JK; Funk ER; Taylor SA

Published in: Auk: a quarterly journal of ornithology
Publication Date: 2021-04-24
Type: Journal Article

Rapid speciation via the evolution of pre-mating isolation in the Ibera Seedeater

CU Boulder Authors: Safran, Rebecca J; Taylor, Scott

All Authors:

Turbek SP; Browne M; Di Giacomo AS; Kopuchian C; Hochachka WM; Estalles C; Lijtmaer DA; Tubaro PL; Silveira LF; Lovette ...

Turbek SP
Browne M
Di Giacomo AS
Kopuchian C
Hochachka WM
Estalles C
Lijtmaer DA
Tubaro PL
Silveira LF
Lovette IJ

Published in: Science
Publication Date: 2021-03-26
Type: Journal Article

An isolated white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) population on St. John, US Virgin Islands shows low inbreeding and comparable heterozygosity to other larger populations

CU Boulder Authors: Reuter, Jon D; Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Nelson SL; Taylor SA; Reuter JD

Published in: Ecology and Evolution
Publication Date: 2021-03-01
Type: Journal Article

Asymmetric introgression reveals the genetic architecture of a plumage trait

CU Boulder Authors: Semenov, Georgy; Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Semenov GA; Linck E; Enbody ED; Harris RB; Khaydarov DR; Alstrom P; Andersson L; Taylor SA

Published in: Nature Communications
Publication Date: 2021-02-15
Type: Journal Article

Dense sampling of bird diversity increases power of comparative genomics

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Feng S; Stiller J; Deng Y; Armstrong J; Fang Q; Reeve AH; Xie D; Chen G; Guo C; Faircloth BC

Published in: Nature
Publication Date: 2020-11-12
Type: Journal Article

Leveraging eDNA to expand the study of hybrid zones

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Stewart KA; Taylor SA

Published in: Molecular Ecology
Publication Date: 2020-08-01
Type: Journal Article

Genomic and plumage variation in Vermivora hybrids

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Baiz MD; Kramer GR; Streby HM; Taylor SA; Lovette IJ; Toews DPL

Published in: Auk: a quarterly journal of ornithology
Publication Date: 2020-07-01
Type: Journal Article

Genomic regions underlying metabolic and neuronal signaling pathways are temporally consistent in a moving avian hybrid zone

CU Boulder Authors: Taylor, Scott

All Authors: Wagner DN; Curry RL; Chen N; Lovette IJ; Taylor SA

Published in: Evolution
Publication Date: 2020-07-01
Type: Journal Article

Teaching

Scott teaches a number of field-based and lecture format undergraduate courses. He incorporates creativity into his pedagogy when possible, and encourages his students to engage with the subject matter in unconventional ways. Students who take the course Ecology and Evolution in the Galápagos Islands keep field notes alongside watercolor depictions of their observations.

Courses

See Scott's courses on his lab website.

Abigail Buell

Graduate Student •
• Bioinformatics

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Visit the Taylor Lab

abbu8464@colorado.edu

Sara Padula

PhD Student •
• Evolution • Cognition • Genomics • Ornithology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Visit the Taylor Lab I am interested in the similarities and differences of the evolution of spatial cognition in Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees in the Rocky Mountains. I research this through conducting cognitive tests on chickadees in the field and then associating their cognitive performances with their genetics. Bio News CU Boulder Today story about study of mountain chickadee memory, spring 2024. Interview as first recipient of the Sarah Crump...

sara.padula@colorado.edu

---

Outreach

RIO Faculty Fellow community talk: Contemplating evolution: Why making spaces to be curious was important for this gay scientist. YouTube video, October 2023.

The Storycollider story: Becoming: Stories about growing into yourself. Storycollider podcast with transcript, May 2022.

TedX Boulder talk: Why you should pay attention to backyard birds. YouTube video, July 2019.

News

Mountain chickadees have remarkable memories. A new study explains why (CU Boulder Today)

April 17, 2024

A multi-university team of researchers, including four members of CU Boulder's Taylor Lab, have identified nearly a hundred genes associated with the birds’ spatial memory, or ability to recall the locations of objects. Their paper, published in the journal Current Biology, also suggests a potential trade-off may exist between having a solid long-term memory and being able to quickly ditch old memories to form new ones.

A researcher's hand gently clasps a mountain chickadee fledgling by its feet.

Students may learn ecology (and much else) in the wild (Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine)

Feb. 29, 2024

CU Boulder’s Mountain Research Station is offering six field courses this summer, giving students the opportunity to study a wide range of disciplines in nature

Scott Taylor while giving his TED-style talk at the Boulder Dairy Center

Contemplating evolution: Why making spaces to be curious was important for this gay scientist (RIO community talk on YouTube)

Dec. 15, 2023

Scott Taylor (INSTAAR Fellow, EBIO Associate Professor, MRS Director) gave a short TED-style talk at the Boulder Dairy Arts Center on October 18, 2023 as part of the 2023 Faculty Fellows program for CU Boulder's Research & Innovation Office (RIO). In his talk, Scott tells the story of his personal journey to a deeper understanding of his work as a scientist and his own place in the world.

Scott Taylor (center) and two students conduct field research on a snowy day at the Mountain Research Station.

Educating through an 'exceptional experience' (CU Boulder)

Dec. 13, 2023

For decades, the Mountain Research Station has been a stepping-off point for researchers studying plant and animal ecology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, geomorphology and atmospheric science. Much of that research takes place on rugged, nearby Niwot Ridge. Within that area lies every type of alpine and montane ecosystem that exists in the southern Rocky Mountains. That abundance has made Niwot Ridge a rare and important ‘living laboratory.’

Out of its nest box for the first time, a young chickadee squints in the sun and stretches its wings.

Chickadees crossbreed, despite biological barriers

Aug. 29, 2023

Researchers in the Taylor Lab study interactions between higher-elevation dwelling mountain chickadees and the closely related lower-elevation dwelling black capped chickadees. A recent study in Global Change Biology investigates barriers that prevent the two species from mating and what happens when they do mate and produce offspring.

More Taylor news >

Search

Breadcrumb

Scott Taylor

Bio

Education

Research

Publications

Pages

Teaching

Courses

Outreach

News