Ronald Burton is a professor of marine biology and specializes in the evolutionary genetics and molecular ecology of marine organisms. His work integrates molecular genetics, biochemical physiology, and population genetics to study patterns of dispersal and adaptation to environmental changes in the sea as well as the mechanisms underlying the formation of new species. He studies natural populations of copepods, crabs, sea urchins, abalone, and fish. He also examines the relationships between molecular genetics and physiological variation within species.

Burton received both his undergraduate degree and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. He held faculty positions at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Houston before joining Scripps. He helped develop and continues to teach in UCSD’s Marine Biology major and its interdisciplinary Environmental Systems program.

He has served as a member of the editorial board of three major scientific journals: Evolution, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, and Marine Ecology Progress Series. Burton has published more than 100 scientific papers. He also has served on the federal advisory panel for the endangered white abalone.

Last updated June 2010