"(Dis)advantages of (a)sex and(poly)diploidy in a New Zealand freshwater
snail  -or- Why are most eukaryotes sexual diploids?" 

Dr. Neiman is fascinated by biological diversity, and by the simultaneous operation of adaptive and non-adaptive evolutionary processes within organisms, populations, and lineages. Sex, with all its complexities, encompasses all of these interests. In particular, she is interested in using comparisons of sexual and asexual individuals, lineages, and genomes to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of sexuality, evolutionary constraints that limit asexual success, and why sex persists in some natural populations but not others.