Several aspects of marine fish evolution and ecology, including phylogeography, speciation, molecular systematics, evolutionary ecology, biogeography, community ecology and taxonomy.

My research interests and experience are centered on the evolution, phylogeography (or the geographic distribution of genetic lineages), biogeography, taxonomy and community and behavioral ecology of coral reef fishes. I frequently try to combine these fields, invoking ecology to help explain evolutionary patterns and using molecular tools to test biogeographic and taxonomic hypotheses. The overall objective of this interdisciplinary research is to test existing hypotheses (and propose new ones) about what generates and maintains the extremely high biodiversity in tropical coral reefs. Future research interests include speciation in tropical marine and neotropical freshwater fishes, evolutionary ecology of mimicry in fishes, molecular evolution of adaptive coloration in fishes and the exploration of deep reef using advanced diving techniques (i.e. closed circuit rebreathers).

Rocha, L.A., K.C. Lindeman, C.R. Rocha, and H.A. Lessios.  2008.  Historical biogeography and speciation in the reef fish genus Haemulon (Teleostei: Haemulidae).  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.  In Press.

Rocha, L.A., C.R. Rocha, D.R. Robertson, and B.W. Bowen.  2008.  Comparative phylogeography of Atlantic reef fishes indicates both origin and accumulation of diversity in the Caribbean.  BMC Evolutionary Biology 8:157.

Rocha, L.A., D.R. Robertson, J. Roman, and B.W. Bowen.  2005.  Ecological speciation in tropical reef fishes. Proceedings of the Royal Society, B 272:573-579.