We are meeting this semester (Fall 2023) on Mondays 3-4pm in Gant W416. Subscribe to systematics listserv to receive emails containing connection information (or write to someone listed in Contact Info).

August 28, 2023

September 4, 2023

No class, Labor Day

September 11, 2023

Postponed: Zach will dicuss the paper Jorna et al. 2021. Species boundaries in the messy middle—A genome-scale validation of species delimitation in a recently diverged lineage of coastal fog desert lichen fungi Ecology and Evolution 11(24):18615-18632.

Instead of the paper above, we plan to discuss species delimitation in general. Here is a possible background paper to read (sorry for the late notice):

de Queiroz, K. 2007. Species concepts and species delimitation. Systematic Biology 56(6):879-886. DOI:10.1080/10635150701701083

September 18, 2023

Nick Van Gilder has chosen the following paper on species delimitation in geckos for this week. This paper evaluates the sensitivity of one of the most prominent Bayesian species delimitation methods, BPP, to the guide tree and prior for theta, the parameter that determines mean time to coalescence within populations (larger values mean deeper average coalescence times, all other things equal).

AD Leaché, MK Fujita. 2010. Bayesian species delimitation in West African forest geckos (Hemidactylus fasciatus). Proc. R. Soc. B 277:3071-3077. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2010.0662

September 25, 2023

Zach will dicuss the paper Jorna et al. 2021. Species boundaries in the messy middle—A genome-scale validation of species delimitation in a recently diverged lineage of coastal fog desert lichen fungi Ecology and Evolution 11(24):18615-18632.

October 2, 2023

Analisa will lead discussion on this paper: LG Fabreti and S Höhna. Nucleotide substitution model selection is not necessary for Bayesian inference of phylogeny with well-behaved priors Systematic Biology (corrected proof). DOI:10.1093/sysbio/syad041

October 9, 2023

Frank will lead discussion on this paper: M Tatani, T Yamasaki, H Tanaka, T Nakata, S Chiba. 2023. What makes the diverse flight of birds possible? Phylogenetic comparative analysis of avian alula morphology. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. DOI:10.1093/biolinnean/blad085

October 16, 2023

Chelsea will lead discussion on this paper: G Navalóne, JA Bright, J Marugán-Lobón, and EJ Rayfield. 2018. The evolutionary relationship among beak shape, mechanical advantage, and feeding ecology in modern birds. Evolution 73(3):422-435. DOI:10.1111/evo.13655

October 23, 2023

Paul will lead discussion on this paper: Y Asar, H Sauquet, and SYW Ho. 2023. Evaluating the accuracy of methods for detecting correlated rates of molecular and morphological evolution. Systematic Biology DOI:10.1093/sysbio/syad055

October 30, 2023

Elizabeth will lead discussion on this paper: G Forni, J Martelossi, P Valero, FH Hennemann, O Conle, A Luchetti, and B Mantovani. 2022. Macroevolutionary analyses provide new evidence of phasmid wings evolution as a reversible process. Systematic Biology 71(6):1471–1486. DOI:10.1093/sysbio/syac038

Elizabeth says “It returns to an old debate about whether wings re-evolved in walking sticks, so I hope it has something for everyone, whether your interest is trait evolution, insects, or models.”

November 6, 2023

Frank will lead discussion on this paper: Eliason et al. 2023. Genomic signatures of convergent shifts to plunge- diving behavior in birds. Communications Biology 6:1011. DOI:10.1038/s42003-023-05359-z

November 13, 2023

Kyle will lead discussion on this paper on some misplaced tiger beetles: Duran et al. 2020. Geographic life history differences predict genomic divergence better than mitochondrial barcodes or phenotype Genes 11:265 (22 pages). DOI:10.3390/genes11030265

November 20, 2023

No class, Thanksgiving

November 27, 2023

Zach chose this paper on scrub jay speciation: DA DeRaad, JE McCormack, N Chen, AT Peterson, and RG Moyle. 2022. Combining species delimitation, species trees, and tests for gene flow clarifies complex speciation in scrub-jays. Systematic Biology 71(6):1453-1470. DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syac034

December 4, 2023

Last paper of the semester: JO Wolff, K Wierucka, GBN Paterno, JA Coddington, G Hormiga, MBJ Kelly, ME Herberstein, and MJ Ramirez. 2022. Stabilized morphological evolution of spiders despite mosaic changes in foraging ecology. Systematic Biology 71(6):1487-1503. DOI:10.1093/sysbio/syac023