Category Archives: phylogenetics

Free to go but required to stay: contrasting views on mitochondrial relationships

Posted on 19 Jan, 2017 by Rob Denton

Ever since a bacterium found itself mysteriously engulfed in our eukaryotic ancestor, things have been, uh, complicated regarding our two genomes. One is big, one is small. One is circular, one is linear. One is numerous in each cell, the … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, Molecular Ecology, the journal, phylogenetics, population genetics, selection, speciation | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Highlights from the Standalone Society of Systematic Biologists meeting – part 1

Posted on 13 Jan, 2017 by Melissa DeBiasse

The 2017 standalone meeting of the Society of Systematic Biologists included expert-led debates on major issues in molecular systematics. Didn’t make it to Baton Rouge? Don’t worry – Bryan McLean and I report on the main points below, and highlight some of our … Continue reading →

Posted in phylogenetics, species delimitation, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Phylogeny of the elves illustrates why we need to sample elf DNA immediately

Posted on 21 Dec, 2016 by Jeremy Yoder

Last year for Christmas Eve, Dominic Evangelista reconstructed the evolutionary history of elves and elf-like fantasy creatures in a tour-de-force of nerd crossover. Seriously, go read that piece if you haven’t. It has an alternate abstract in Elvish. As with … Continue reading →

Posted in DNA barcoding, phylogenetics, primates, species delimitation | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

At the molecular level, there's more than one way to fly higher

Posted on 3 Nov, 2016 by Jeremy Yoder

Parallel adaptation is coming into its own lately, as we’re increasingly able to examine the molecular changes underlying similar adaptations in distantly related species. A fundamental prediction of evolutionary theory is that species coping with the same environment should converge … Continue reading →

Posted in birds, evolution, mutation, natural history, phylogenetics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Hidden History of Kiwi Diversification

Posted on 3 Oct, 2016 by Bryan McLean

Of the millions of Earth’s species that likely remain to be described, a majority is thought to be invertebrates, plants, fungi, or microbes. Nevertheless, the pace of species description in some vertebrate groups has not slackened over the past few … Continue reading →

Posted in genomics, phylogenetics, phylogeography, species delimitation, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Building bridges across the chaos

Posted on 13 Sep, 2016 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

In a new review, Eldon and co-authors (in press) attempt to build a bridge across the chaos of genetic patchiness in the sea. They i) describe the patterns characterized as chaotic genetic patchiness, ii) discuss the potential causes of these patterns and … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, genomics, mutation, natural history, next generation sequencing, phylogenetics, phylogeography, population genetics, selection | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Primer on the Great BAMM Controversy

Posted on 26 Aug, 2016 by Ethan Linck

Update, 26 August 2016, 2:30PM. A number of readers brought my attention to a series of blog posts by Moore et al. responding to Rabosky’s rebuttal of their published critique of BAMM. I’ve included links to the posts and summarized their … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, phylogenetics, software, speciation | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

How do Missing Data Impact Phylogenetic Inference with UCEs?

Posted on 19 Jul, 2016 by Bryan McLean

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has put gobs of sequence data in the hands of molecular biologists, and that data is measurably advancing our prospects for a fully resolved Tree of Life. Nearly simultaneously, however, we have realized that every NGS dataset … Continue reading →

Posted in next generation sequencing, phylogenetics | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Molecular Inversion Probes: phylogenomics without the excess?

Posted on 18 Jul, 2016 by Ethan Linck

The onset of the phylogenomic era has revolutionized molecular ecology and systematics, helping resolve relationships throughout the tree of life that have long eluded researchers working with only a handful of loci and morphological data. Phylogenetic studies of nonmodel organisms … Continue reading →

Posted in genomics, next generation sequencing, phylogenetics, phylogeography, population genetics, transcriptomics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What do dolphins, bivalves and algae have in common?

Posted on 15 Jul, 2016 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Collaboration as it turns out, between three scientists interested in vertebrates, invertebrates and algae! A few days before we left for Evolution 2016 in Austin, one of my collaborators, Eric Pante, came to Charleston as the final stop in a North American … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, blogging, career, conferences, DNA barcoding, haploid-diploid, natural history, phylogenetics, phylogeography, population genetics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment