Photo by ToOb.

This week at The Molecular Ecologist, we’re kicking off a new interview series, “People Behind the Science,” by John Stanton-Geddes. The inaugural interview is with Loren Rieseberg, the Chief Editor of Molecular Ecology and an expert in the evolutionary consequences of hybridization between species.

When I arrived at Washington State University (WSU) in the fall of 1984 to begin my PhD, my advisor, Doug Soltis, handed me a copy of Verne Grant’s Plant Speciation and told me to find a problem. I was especially intrigued by Grant’s discussion of the potential role of hybridization in adaptation and speciation.

The interview ranges from Rieseberg’s philosophy for Molecular Ecology to which one paper (out of over 300 he’s authored!) that he wishes more people would read. So go read the whole thing.◼