Yareli Alvarez

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University in the lab of Dr. Corrie Moreau and working in collaboration with Dr. Mike Sheehan.

I am an evolutionary biologist interested in how ecological interactions shape the evolution of defensive strategies. My research seeks to understand how organisms respond to ecological challenges across levels of biological organization, from the molecular mechanisms underlying defensive phenotypes to the emergence of collective defenses in animal societies.

Using an integrative approach that combines behavioral experiments, genomics, and molecular biology, I investigate how defensive traits evolve and how they contribute to adaptation in diverse ecological contexts. Although my current work focuses on social insects, I am broadly interested in how defensive strategies evolve across the tree of life.