Scaling complex models to answer key questions about diversification

ROSANA ZENIL-FERGUSON

Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, USA

roszenil@uky.edu

Link to seminar: https://umontpellier-fr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wCJFyPqCRdOgP0sHQQ1i-g

Macroevolution studies of trait change need speciation and extinction processes as essential part of their design. In this presentation, I will illustrate two examples of trait evolution linked to speciation and extinction. The first example explores whether ecological specialization is linked to diversification using a comprehensive phylogeny of songbirds. The second example examines a key question in the diversification of plants: have single chromosome number changes contributed to the vast speciation of flowering plants? These two examples illustrate the many opportunities for understanding speciation and extinction through the development of new process-based models that scale with large phylogenetic trees and their traits.

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