Blog

Nov 15
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Hernán López-Fernández

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I am interested in the evolutionary processes that originate “mega-diverse” biotic assemblages and the role of ecology in shaping the evolution of diversity. My program studies the evolution of Neotropical freshwater fishes, the most diverse freshwater fish fauna on earth, with an estimate exceeding 7,000 species. My lab combines molecular phylogenetics and phylogeny-based comparative methods to integrate ecology, functional morphology, life histories and geography into analyses of macroevolutionary patterns of freshwater fish diversification. We are also comparing patterns of diversification across major Neotropical fish clades. Relying on fieldwork and natural history collections, we use methods that span

Mar 08
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Stephen Smith

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The Smith lab group is primarily interested in examining evolutionary processes using new data sources and analysis techniques. We develop new methods to address questions about the rates and modes of evolution using the large data sources that have become more common in the biological disciplines over the last ten years. In particular, we use DNA sequence data to construct phylogenetic trees and conduct additional analyses about processes of evolution on these trees. In addition to this research program, we also address how new data sources can facilitate new research in evolutionary biology. To this end, we sequence transcriptomes, primarily in plants, with the goal of better understanding where, within the genome and within the phylogeny, processes like gene duplication and loss, horizontal gene transfer, and increased rates of molecular evolution occur.

A rough draft of the first comprehensive tree of life, showing the links between all of the more than 2.3 million named species of animals, plants and microorganisms. The draft was constructed by combining more than 450 existing trees to a comprehensive taxonomy. Because the tree is large, only lineages with at least 500 species are shown. The colors correspond to the amount of publicly available DNA data for each lineage (red = high, blue = low, giving an idea of the amount of available information).

A rough draft of the first comprehensive tree of life, showing the links between all of the more than 2.3 million named species of animals, plants and microorganisms. The draft was constructed by combining more than 450 existing trees to a comprehensive taxonomy. Because the tree is large, only lineages with at least 500 species are shown. The colors correspond to the amount of publicly available DNA data for each lineage (red = high, blue = low, giving an idea of the amount of available information).