A5051961764- Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Bat Biology and Ecology Studies
- Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Genetic diversity and population structure
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy
- Animal and Plant Science Education
- Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies
- Turtle Biology and Conservation
- Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
- Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
- Plant and animal studies
- Mosquito-borne diseases and control
- Subterranean biodiversity and taxonomy
- Morphological variations and asymmetry
- Power Systems Fault Detection
- Dyeing and Modifying Textile Fibers
- dental development and anomalies
- Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
Florida Museum of Natural History
2015-2024
University of Florida
2015-2024
Blackburn College
2008-2024
California Academy of Sciences
2011-2023
ORCID
2022
University of Kansas
2009-2013
American Museum of Natural History
2009-2011
Biodiversity Research Institute
2010
Harvard University
2006-2009
Harvard University Press
2006-2009
Significance Frogs are the dominant component of semiaquatic vertebrate faunas. How frogs originated and diversified has long attracted attention evolutionary biologists. Here, we recover their history by extensive sampling genes species present a hypothesis for frog evolution. In contrast to prior conclusions that major clades were established in Mesozoic, find ∼88% living from three principal lineages arose at end coincident with Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) mass extinction event decimated...
Long celebrated for its spectacular landscapes and strikingly high levels of endemic biodiversity, the Philippines has been studied intensively by biogeographers two centuries. Concentration so many land vertebrates into a small area shared patterns distribution in unrelated forms inspired search common mechanisms production, partitioning, maintenance life archipelago. In this review, we (a) characterize an ongoing renaissance species discovery, (b) discuss changing way conceive archipelago,...
Abstract Natural history collections (NHCs) are the foundation of historical baselines for assessing anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity. Along these lines, online mobilization specimens via digitization—the conversion specimen data into accessible digital content—has greatly expanded use NHC across a diversity disciplines. We broaden current vision digitization (Digitization 1.0)—whereby digitized within NHCs—to include new approaches that rely products rather than physical 2.0)....
Despite a large and multifaceted effort to understand the vast landscape of phenotypic data, their current form inhibits productive data analysis. The lack community-wide, consensus-based, human- machine-interpretable language for describing phenotypes genomic environmental contexts is perhaps most pressing scientific bottleneck integration across many key fields in biology, including genomics, systems development, medicine, evolution, ecology, systematics. Here we survey phenomics...
The accumulation of biodiversity in tropical forests can occur through multiple allopatric and parapatric models diversification, including forest refugia, riverine barriers ecological gradients. Considerable debate surrounds the major diversification process, particularly West African Lower Guinea forests, which contain a complex geographic arrangement topographic features historical refugia. We used genomic data to investigate alternative mechanisms Gaboon frog, Scotobleps gabonicus, by...
The extraction of genetic information from preserved tissue samples or museum specimens is a fundamental component many fields research, including the Barcode Life initiative, forensic investigations, biological studies using scat sample analysis, and cancer research utilizing formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue. Efforts to obtain these sources are often hampered by an inability amplify desired DNA as consequence damage.Previous have described techniques for improved such focused on...
Elucidating disease and developmental dysfunction requires understanding variation in phenotype. Single-species model organism anatomy ontologies (ssAOs) have been established to represent this variation. Multi-species (msAOs; vertebrate skeletal, homologous, teleost, amphibian AOs) developed 'natural' phenotypic across species. Our aim has integrate ssAOs msAOs for various purposes, including establishing links between candidate genes.Previously, contained a mixture of unique overlapping...
Biodiversity loss is one major outcome of human-mediated ecosystem disturbance. One way that humans have triggered wildlife declines by transporting disease-causing agents to remote areas the world. Amphibians been hit particularly hard disease due in part a globally distributed pathogenic chytrid fungus ( Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis [ Bd ]). Prior research has revealed important insights into biology and distribution ; however, there are still many outstanding questions this system....
The Western Ghats (WG) is an escarpment on the west coast of Peninsular India, housing one richest assemblages frogs in world, with three endemic families. Here, we report discovery a new ancient lineage from high-elevation massif Wayanad Plateau southern WG. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that belongs to Natatanura and clusters Nyctibatrachidae, family WG/Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot. Based geographic distribution, unique morphological traits, deep genetic divergence, phylogenetic position...
African clawed frogs, genus Xenopus, are extraordinary among vertebrates in the diversity of their polyploid species and high number independent polyploidization events that occurred during diversification. Here we update current understanding evolutionary history this group describe six new from west central sub-Saharan Africa, including four tetraploids two dodecaploids. We provide information on molecular variation, morphology, karyotypes, vocalizations, estimated geographic ranges, which...
Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse vertebrate orders, comprising more than 7,000 species with a worldwide distribution and extensive ecological diversity. In contrast to other tetrapods, frogs have highly derived body plan simplified skull. many lineages anurans, increased mineralization has led hyperossified skulls, but function this trait its relationship aspects head morphology largely unexplored. Using three-dimensional morphological data from 158 representing all frog families,...
Living amphibians exhibit a diversity of ecologies, life histories, and species-rich lineages that offers opportunities for studies adaptive radiation. We characterize diverse clade frogs (Kaloula, Microhylidae) in the Philippine island archipelago as an example radiation into three primary habitat specialists or ecotypes. use novel phylogenetic estimate this to evaluate tempo lineage accumulation morphological diversification. Because species-level estimates Kaloula are lacking, we employ...
Habitat is one of the most important factors shaping organismal morphology, but it may vary across life history stages. Ontogenetic shifts in ecology introduce antagonistic selection that constrains adult phenotype, particularly with ecologically distinct developmental phases such as free-living, feeding larval stage many frogs (Lissamphibia: Anura). We test relative influences and ecological on diversification skull morphology a detailed analysis 15 individual cranial regions 173 anuran...
Abstract The data available for reconstructing molecular phylogenies have become wildly disparate. Phylogenomic studies can generate thousands of genetic markers dozens species, but hundreds other taxa, may be from only a few genes. Can these two types integrated to combine the advantages both, addressing relationships species with genes? Here, we show that this is possible, using frogs. We generated phylogenomic set 138 ingroup and 3,784 nuclear (ultraconserved elements [UCEs]), including...
Background The complex history of Southeast Asian islands has long been interest to biogeographers. Dispersal and vicariance events in the Pleistocene have received most attention, though recent studies suggest a potentially more ancient components terrestrial fauna. Among this fauna is enigmatic archaeobatrachian frog genus Barbourula, which only occurs on Borneo Palawan. We utilize lineage gain unique insight into temporal diversification islands. Methodology/Principal Findings Using...
Abstract Activation of the bHLH factor Math5 ( Atoh7 ) is an initiating event for mammalian retinal neurogenesis, as it critically required ganglion cell formation. However, cis‐regulatory elements and trans‐acting factors that control expression are largely unknown. Using a combination transgenic mice bioinformatics, we identified phylogenetically conserved regulatory element to activate transcription during early neurogenesis. This drives in vivo, cross‐species assay. Previously, Pax6 was...
Amphibian populations are vanishing worldwide. Declines and extinctions of many have been attributed to chytridiomycosis, a disease induced by the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). In Africa, however, changes in amphibian assemblages were typically habitat change. We conducted retrospective study utilizing field surveys from 2004–2012 anuran faunas on two mountains western Cameroon, hotspot African diversity. The number species detected was negatively influenced year,...
Abstract Theory predicts that sexually dimorphic traits under strong sexual selection, particularly those involved with intersexual signaling, can accelerate speciation and produce bursts of diversification. Sexual dichromatism (sexual dimorphism in color) is widely used as a proxy for selection associated rapid diversification several animal groups, yet studies using phylogenetic comparative methods to explicitly test an association between have produced conflicting results. rare frogs, but...
Organismal traits interact with environmental variation to mediate how species respond shared landscapes. Thus, differences in related dispersal ability or physiological tolerance may result phylogeographic discordance among co-distributed taxa, even when they are responding common barriers. We quantified climatic suitability and stability, divergence within three reed frog complexes across the Guineo-Congolian forests Gulf of Guinea archipelago Central Africa investigate responded a...