Niko did his PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara working on diversification and the molecular genetics of behavior. After his PhD, he acquired an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology to work on the causes and consequences of behavioral isolation between species at Cornell University. Niko is now a Herchel-Smith Fellow in the Department of Zoology, trying to demonstrate the function of seemingly paradoxical group behaviors.
Even amongst groups that are similar ages, some clades are peppered with numerous species while their sister groups are relatively depauperate. Niko's work aims to understand the mechanisms that produce such variation in biodiversity across the tree of life. He focuses on the evolution and function of behaviors that isolate diverging species from one another, a key step in speciation process. His work uses many techniques, from classical field work to genomics and protein biochemistry. Niko has primarily worked on the fantastical yet understudied bioluminescent ostracods of the Caribbean, and with crickets endemic to the mid-altitude forests on islands of Hawaii; both clades are known for the charismatic behaviors that define and diversify species.
