Category Archives: phylogenetics

Quick and dirty tree building in R

Posted on 26 Feb, 2016 by Ethan Linck

One of the major obstacles to turning your sequence data into phylogenetic trees is choosing (and learning) a tree-building program. Confounding this problem is the fact that most researchers will want to perform numerous, complementary analyses, each of which may … Continue reading →

Posted in howto, methods, phylogenetics, R, software | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Carnivorous Rodents of Southeast Asia

Posted on 15 Feb, 2016 by Bryan McLean

Whoa, Wallace. There be carnivorous rats on those islands. Sixty-two species, to be exact, across the broader Indo-Australian Archipelago. Among them are small- and large-bodied rats, worm-eaters with elongated snouts (“vermivores”), and even amphibious forms (Fig. 1), and they are … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, natural history, phylogenetics, theory | Leave a comment

Genomics of Hybridization – Part 1

Posted on 21 Jan, 2016 by Arun Sethuraman

In a series of articles, I will discuss recent advances in hybridization genomics – the fundamentals of adaptive introgression, “islands of speciation”, differential gene flow, and linked selection have been discussed in my previous posts (here, here, and also at … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, genomics, methods, natural history, next generation sequencing, pedigree, phylogenetics, plants, population genetics, RNAseq, software, speciation, species delimitation, STRUCTURE, theory, transcriptomics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Comparing your options for phylogenomic data

Posted on 16 Dec, 2015 by Rob Denton

The choices for current-generation (last generation?) molecular markers are grouped in two primary camps. First, the “reduced representation” methods: take some DNA, cut it up with specific enzymes, tag those pieces, read the sequences. These methods produce lots and lots of … Continue reading →

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

Pre-adapted algal ancestors colonized land

Posted on 7 Dec, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

The colonization of land by plants 450 Mya marked a major transition on Earth and was one of the critical events that led to the emergence of extant terrestrial ecosystems. Chief among the challenges the terrestrial environment presented for these … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, bioinformatics, Coevolution, evolution, genomics, haploid-diploid, next generation sequencing, phylogenetics, plants, transcriptomics | Tagged | Leave a comment

The scent of home

Posted on 3 Dec, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

We decided to divide and conquere the west coast of North America in search of more populations of Gracilaria vermiculophylla, as if we didn’t already have enough by Midsummer’s Eve! I headed to my home state – California. I was able to sneak … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, DNA barcoding, evolution, haploid-diploid, natural history, phylogenetics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Anti-predatory adaptations in sticklebacks and butterflies

Posted on 23 Nov, 2015 by Arun Sethuraman

Two recent studies analyze character shifts in response to different selection regimes – (1) Mullerian mimicry wing patterns in Heliconius butterflies, and (2) anti-intraguild-predator adaptations in armor and shape of threespine sticklebacks. Hoyal Cuthill and Charleston 2015 Wing patterning genes … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, Coevolution, evolution, genomics, natural history, phylogenetics, phylogeography, population genetics, selection, speciation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Introgression history in sticklebacks and oaks

Posted on 1 Oct, 2015 by Arun Sethuraman

Speciation theory has many monikers for differential gene flow – migration, introgression, admixture, hybridization, secondary contact. As a homogenizing process, gene flow at large acts to reduce differentiation between populations post-divergence. However, selection and demography affect the rates of gene … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, genomics, natural history, phylogenetics, population genetics, selection, speciation, species delimitation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Measuring dispersal rate in Neotropical fishes in units of 'wallace'

Posted on 25 Sep, 2015 by Melissa DeBiasse

Alfred Russel Wallace often gets second billing compared to Charles Darwin but in a paper recently accepted at Systematic Biology, Tagliacollo et al.  define a new term for their analyses (dispersal rate, D) and measure D in units of ‘wallaces‘ (wa) to honor the contributions of Alfred … Continue reading →

Posted in methods, phylogenetics, phylogeography, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The Goldilocks zone of missing data

Posted on 16 Sep, 2015 by Rob Denton

Reduced representation sequencing approaches, such as RADseq and UCEs, have provided some fascinating inferences in recent years, but something has always been missing in these analyses: data. As sampled taxa become more divergent, the price paid for more loci is … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, methods, next generation sequencing, phylogenetics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment