Chairs
Dr Nick Goldman, EMBL - European Bioinformatics Institute, UK
Dr Nick Goldman, EMBL - European Bioinformatics Institute, UK
Nick Goldman has a first degree in mathematics and received his PhD in molecular evolution from the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, in 1992. He worked at the Natural History Museum (London), the MRC-National Institute for Medical Research (London) and the University of Cambridge before joining the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) in 2002. He leads a research group devising novel data analysis techniques for molecular evolution, and has published approximately 100 scientific papers. Nick is also an EMBL Senior Scientist and a member of EBI's Strategy and Management Committee.
13:30-14:00
Mammal madness: Is the mammal tree of life not resolved yet?
Professor Emma Teeling, University College Dublin, Ireland
Abstract
Living mammals (~5,400 species), inhabit every biome on earth, and are arguably one of the most phenotypically diverse group of vertebrates. From the largest, 170 ton blue whale, to the smallest, ~2 g flying, echolocating bumblebee bat, the huge diversity and extraordinary adaptive radiations in mammalian form and function have fascinated evolutionary biologists for centuries. Most molecular phylogenetic studies place all placental mammals into four superordinal groups: Laurasiatheria (e.g. dog, bat, cow), Euarchontoglires (e.g. human, rodent, flying lemur), Xenarthra (e.g. armadillo, ant-eater) and Afrotheria (e.g. elephant, sea-cow, tenrec) and estimate that they last shared a common ancestor 110 million years ago. This phylogeny has been the basis for many functional and comparative studies. However, a recent total evidence study examined the phylogenetic relationships amongst representative living and fossil mammals using a large supermatrix that combined ~4500 phenomic (morphological) characters, the largest morphological data set to date, with DNA sequences for 27 nuclear genes. Their results dramatically contrasted with prevailing molecular clock studies and suggested that approximated 10 interordinal mammalian divergences occurred in as little as 200,000 years, suggesting ‘viral rates’ of DNA mutations for mammals. Only 22/44 nodes that are supported by molecular studies were supported and many highly convergent ‘morphological’ clades received high support in their analyses. In addition despite the high level of congruence amongst most molecular studies, questions still remain regarding the position and divergence time of the root of placental mammals, and certain ‘hard clades’ such as Laurasiatheria and Paenungulata seem impossible to resolve. Here, we explore recent consensus and conflicting mammal phylogenetic studies and explore the reason for this conflict. The question of whether the mammal is or tree can be ever resolved will be addressed.
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Professor Emma Teeling, University College Dublin, Ireland
Professor Emma Teeling, University College Dublin, Ireland
Professor Emma Teeling established the Laboratory of Molecular Evolution and Mammalian Phylogenetics in 2005 and is the Founding Director of the Centre for Irish Bat Research at University College Dublin (UCD). She has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council Starting grant (2012) and a Science Foundation Ireland, President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (2006). She successfully leads a prolific, internationally renowned research team of typically 10 people and has secured over €4.5M in research funding. Prof. Teeling’s integrative research in the fields of zoology, phylogenetics and genomics uncovers the genetic signatures of survival that enables species to adapt to an ever-changing environment. The two mains goals of her research are: (1) study unique model species to enable a better understanding of the structure and function of the human genome to inform medicine and molecular biology; (2) understand and therefore conserve, natural populations and environments to promote ecosystem well-being and functioning. Her record of leadership and research excellence is demonstrated by her publication record of 68 internationally peer-reviewed papers, 5 book chapters, 3 invited subject reviews. A number of these publications have over-turned conventional paradigms in mammalian biology and therefore have been published in high profile journals such as Nature (n=1), Science (n=4), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (n=3), and Nature Communications (n=1). Her high standing in the international community is highlighted by a total citation record of 4578; prestigious international keynote lectures; invited high profile collaborations such as Genome 10K (includes 64 scientific leaders assembled to sequence 10,000 vertebrate genomes); and, high profile invited public presentations (e.g. TEDx talk; ~ 405,000 views; BBC’s Science Club with Dara O’Brian).
14:00-14:30
Molecular Palaeobiology of arthropod terrestrialisation: is the gap closing?
Dr Davide Pisani, University of Bristol, UK
Abstract
Members of the phylum Arthropoda (e.g. insects, centipedes, spiders, crabs and their allies) are the first animals to appear in the terrestrial fossil record. Accordingly, dating the arthropod radiation is fundamental to understand animal terrestrialisation more broadly. However, there is still substantial disagreement between the fossil record of the terrestrial arthropods, and the molecular divergence times for the major arthropod lineages. Furthermore, to clarify how terrestrial arthropods colonized lands it is paramount to clarify the phylogenetic relationships between marine and terrestrial arthropod lineages. For example, it has recently been suggested that the remipedes, a small group of crustaceans exclusively known from marine caves, might represent the sister group of the insects. If this result was confirmed it would suggest a complex route to insect terrestrialisation. However, the evidence proposed to support a close relationship between remipedes and insects is weak at best, and an alternative scenario where the branchipod crustaceans (e.g. the fairy shrimps) that are mostly known from freshwater represent the sister group of the insects should still be considered a valid alternative. Here we shall revise current knowledge of arthropod phylogeny and molecular divergence times within this lineage and interpret these results to better elucidate what processes might have led animals to first colonise the land.
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Dr Davide Pisani, University of Bristol, UK
Dr Davide Pisani, University of Bristol, UK
Davide Pisani graduated in Natural Sciences at the University of Parma, Italy in 1998. After that he completed a PhD in computational biology at the University of Bristol in 2001. He carried out postdoctoral work at the Pennsylvania State University, and at the Natural History Museum, London. After that he was awarded a Marie Curie fellowship and moved to Ireland in 2005. He was lecturer of Bioinformatics at the National University of Ireland from 2007 to 2012, when he moved back to Bristol where he now is Reader in Phylogenomics. Dr Pisani uses phylogenetic and molecular clock based approaches to study the major transitions in the history of life, and he is particularly interested in early animal evolution, origin of animals, animal terrestrialisation. Other topics of interest include eukaryotic evolution and theoretical phylogenetics.
15:30-16:00
Inferring the influence of past climate change on megafaunal population dynamics
Professor Beth Shapiro, University of California Santa Cruz, USA
Abstract
In combination with a molecular clock, genomic data isolated from the remains of long-dead plants and animals can reveal the timing and nature of demographic processes. When coupled with environmental data, genetic reconstructions can begin to address not only when populations grew or shrank, but also why. Broad sampling of faunal remains across the northern hemisphere has shown, for example, that most megafaunal population sizes fluctuate considerably over the last glacial cycle (ca. 125,000 years). However the sparseness of sampling and wide range of environmental variation across the northern hemisphere makes it difficult to identify which environmental processes are driving these demographic changes. In this session, I will present the results of a new analysis of genetic data from caballine horses (Equus caballus) and a variety of environmental proxies, including isotopic, insect, and plant macro- and microfossil data, that were collected at a single location – the Klondike region of Canada’s Yukon Territory. Our data span the last 50,000 years, a period that includes both the transition into and out of the coldest part of the last ice age, making it possible to trace the influence of specific environmental changes on North American horse survival and extinction.
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Professor Beth Shapiro, University of California Santa Cruz, USA
Professor Beth Shapiro, University of California Santa Cruz, USA
Beth Shapiro is an evolutionary biologist who specializes in the genetics of ice age animals and plants. A pioneer in the young field called “ancient DNA,” Beth travels extensively in the Arctic regions of Alaska, Siberia and Canada collecting bones and other remains of long-dead creatures including mammoths, giant bears, and extinct camels and horses. Using DNA sequences extracted from these remains, she hopes to better understand how the distribution and abundance of species changed in response to major climate changes in the past, and why some species go extinct while others persist. The results could be used to help develop strategies for the conservation of species that are under threat from climate change today. Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of California Santa Cruz and a research associate of the Denver Museum of Natural History, Shapiro has been widely honoured for her research. She has been named a Royal Society University Research Fellow, Searle Scholar, Packard Fellow, and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. In 2009, she received a MacArthur “genius” award.
16:00-16:30
Fossilized birth/death dating applied to beeches (Fagus) and ferns (Osmundaceae), clades with excellent fossil records
Professor Susan Renner, University of Munich, Germany
Abstract
The fossilized birth-death (FBD) method of calibrating molecular clocks makes use of both young and old fossils, and is a tip-dating method in that it treats the fossils as tips in MCMC runs. Simulations have shown that method is able to infer speciation, extinction, and fossil recovery rates. With colleagues, I have applied FBD dating to the northern hemisphere genus Fagus, using 45 fossils and nuclear sequences for all nine species, and the worldwide fern clade Osmundaceae, using 35 fossils and sequences for all 12 living species. For both clades, the inferred divergence times were older than obtained with standard node dating. Visualization of the results was easy for the Osmundaceae consensus chronogram, but not for Fagus for which network visualization helped identify and place ‘rogue’ fossils. Inferred speciation and extinction rates imply a ca. 5x higher evolutionary turnover in Fagus than in Osmundaceae, fitting the hypothesized low turnover in plants, such as these ferns, adapted to low nutrient conditions. Only three empirical studies have used the FBD approach so far, which seems surprising given its conceptual superiority to node dating.
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Professor Susan Renner, University of Munich, Germany
Professor Susan Renner, University of Munich, Germany
Susanne Renner is an evolutionary biologist, interested in plant sexual systems, plant/pollinator interactions, and in the occupation of space by plant lineages. Her approaches combine comparative biology and molecular phylogenetics. Right now, her lab is focusing on the evolution of Y chromosomes in certain cucurbits, ant/plant symbioses, and the evolution of different leaf-out strategies in woody species. Well-calibrated molecular clocks are essential to her research. She has worked in Manaus, Brazil; at the Smithsonian Institution, and at universities in Aarhus (Denmark), Mainz (Germany), and Saint Louis (USA). Since 2003, she’s been at the University of Munich, where she is also the director of the Munich botanical garden and herbaria.