Postdoctoral Fellow
Species distribution modeling, or ecological niche modeling, provides a way to model species ranges using environmental layers and GPS coordinates. In addition to estimating species distributions, they have been used for predicting the spread of diseases and invasive species. With the aid of phylogenies, niche modeling has recently been incorporated into many evolutionary and ecological studies to better understand niche diversification, speciation modes, and ecological evolution among other things. Although there have been strides forward using existing analytical methods for reconstructing ancestral niche space and ecological variables, models that better describe the evolution of these traits in the context of niche evolution will provide more accurate results, which will be essential for understanding the evolution of diversity in an ecological and geographical context.
The proposed research project has three main objectives. (1) Develop new methods for reconstructing niches on phylogenies. (2) Develop software for the newly developed methods and integrating them into existing frameworks such as Mesquite. (3) Conduct meta-analyses on empirical datasets using the newly developed methodologies to examine common evolutionary patterns. The proposed research will be influential for uniting multiple disciplines, helping to provide tools and insight into how geography and the environment impact diversity across spatial and temporal scales.
For more information about my research, please visit my website: http://blackrim.org
Integrating species distribution modeling and phylogenetics
| PI(s): | Stephen Smith |
| Start Date: | 1-Oct-2008 |
| End Date: | 31-May-2010 |
| Keywords: | phylogenetics, software, ecological niche modeling, meta-analysis, empirical studies |
Species distribution modeling, or ecological niche modeling, provides a way to model species ranges using environmental layers and GPS coordinates. In addition to estimating species distributions, they have been used for predicting the spread of diseases and invasive species. With the aid of phylogenies, niche modeling has recently been incorporated into many evolutionary and ecological studies to better understand niche diversification, speciation modes, and ecological evolution among other things. Although there have been strides forward using existing analytical methods for reconstructing ancestral niche space and ecological variables, models that better describe the evolution of these traits in the context of niche evolution will provide more accurate results, which will be essential for understanding the evolution of diversity in an ecological and geographical context.The proposed research project has three main objectives. (1) Develop new methods for reconstructing niches on phylogenies. (2) Develop software for the newly developed methods and integrating them into existing frameworks such as Mesquite. (3) Conduct meta-analyses on empirical datasets using the newly developed methodologies to examine common evolutionary patterns. The proposed research will be influential for uniting multiple disciplines, helping to provide tools and insight into how geography and the environment impact diversity across spatial and temporal scales.
For more information about my research, please visit my website: http://blackrim.org
Related products
Software and DatasetsPublications- The Origins of C4 Grasslands: Integrating Evolutionary and Ecosystem Science Edwards, E.J., C.P. Osborne, C.A.E. Stramberg, and S.A. Smith (2010). The Origins of C4 Grasslands: Integrating Evolutionary and Ecosystem Science. Science 328(5978): 587-591.
- S. A. Smith, J. M. Beaulieu and M. J. Donoghue 2010 An uncorrelated relaxed-clock analysis suggests an earlier origin for flowering plants, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, volume 107, issue 13, pp. 5897-5902
- Combining Historical Biogeography With Niche Modeling In The Caprifolium Clade Of Lonicera (Caprifoliaceae, Dipsacales) Smith, S.A. and M.J. Donoghue (2010). Combining Historical Biogeography With Niche Modeling In The Caprifolium Clade Of Lonicera (Caprifoliaceae, Dipsacales). Systematic Biology 59(3): 322-341.
- Species Selection Maintains Self-Incompatibility Goldberg EE, Kohn JR, Lande R, Robertson KA, Smith SA, and Igic B. (2010). Species Selection Maintains Self-Incompatibility, Science, 330(6003): 493-495. doi:10.1126/science.1194513
- Phylogenetic analyses reveal the shady history of C4 grasses Edwards, E. and S. Smith (2010). Phylogenetic analyses reveal the shady history of C4 grasses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(6): 2532-2537.
- Historical Biogeography Of The Endemic Campanulaceae Of Crete Cellinese, N., S.A. Smith, E.J. Edwards, et al. (2009). Historical Biogeography Of The Endemic Campanulaceae Of Crete. Journal Of Biogeography 36(7): 1253-1269.
- Morphogenera, Monophyly, And Macroevolution Smith, S.A. and B.C. O'Meara (2009). Morphogenera, Monophyly, And Macroevolution. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 106(36): E97-E98.
- Life history influences rates of climatic niche evolution in flowering plants S. A. Smith and J. M. Beaulieu 2009 Life history influences rates of climatic niche evolution in flowering plants, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 276(1677): 4345-4352. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1176
- Taking into account phylogenetic and divergence-time uncertainty in a parametric biogeographical analysis of the Northern Hemisphere plant clade Caprifolieae Smith, S.A. (2009). Taking into account phylogenetic and divergence-time uncertainty in a parametric biogeographical analysis of the Northern Hemisphere plant clade Caprifolieae. Journal of Biogeography 36(12): 2324-2337.
- Mega-phylogeny approach for comparative biology: an alternative to supertree and supermatrix approaches Smith, S.A., J.M. Beaulieu, and M.J. Donoghue (2009). Mega-phylogeny approach for comparative biology: an alternative to supertree and supermatrix approaches. BMC Evol Biol 9: 37.
- Comparative methods in R hackathon O'Meara, B., M. Alfaro, C. Bell, et al. (2008). Comparative methods in R hackathon. Nature Precedings.
- Heger, M. (2009). Climate change may be especially tough on trees. USA Today. http://blogs.usatoday.com/sciencefair/2009/09/climate-change-may-be-especially-tough-on-trees.html
- Scudellari, Megan. 2010. Stephen Smith: the botanist hacker. The Scientist 24:3
- Weise, E. (2010). Heger, M. (2009). Drier weather 30 million years ago may have led to grass evolution. USA Today.
- Zimmer, C. (2009). Crunching the data for the tree of life. New York Times. New York, NY. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/science/10tree.html.
- Feb. 13, 2009, The tree of life grows denser, FEATURED ARTICLE, BMC Evol Biol
