Teresa Pegan

Teresa is an NSF postdoctoral fellow co-sponsored by the Edwards lab and the lab Nathan Senner at UMass Amherst. Her postdoctoral project focuses on the genomics of extreme long-distance seasonal migration in the shorebirds (Charadriiformes). Teresa will use comparative phylogenetic methods to link diverse information about the ecology of seasonal migration with patterns in the genome, revealing genomic adaptations that facilitate the incredible migratory journeys of shorebirds. She will conduct complementary population genetic analyses exploring how migratory strategies influence the ability of shorebird populations to adapt and persist, especially during environmental change.

Teresa received a B.A. ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University in 2015 and completed her PhD at the University of Michigan in 2023, advised by Benjamin Winger. Her doctoral work investigated evolutionary consequences of seasonal migration strategy in the avian boreal forest bird community, with a particular focus on comparative population genomics. Teresa has a strong background in fieldwork and museum ornithology and is excited about linking natural history and organismal knowledge with genomic methods to generate new insights into evolution.

Recent Publications:

Pegan, T.M., Kimmitt, A.A., Benz, B.W. et al. Long-distance seasonal migration to the tropics promotes genetic diversity but not gene flow in boreal birds. Nat Ecol Evol 9, 957–969 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02699-3.

Pegan,T.M., Jacob S Berv, Eric R Gulson-Castillo, Abigail A Kimmitt, Benjamin M Winger, The pace of mitochondrial molecular evolution varies with seasonal migration distance, Evolution, Volume 78, Issue 1, January 2024, Pages 160–173, doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpad200.