Macroevolution and Macroecology Group

Reconstructing substitution histories on phylogenies, with accuracy, precision, and coverage biorxiv.org/content/10.648… #biorxiv_evobio

Macroevolutionary analysis of polysynthesis shows that language complexity is more likely to evolve in small, isolated populations pnas.org/doi/abs/10.107…

Is language complexity more likely to evolve in small, isolated populations? We test this idea using global occurrence of one particular form of morphological complexity - polysynthesis (complex word forms that embody whole phrases) pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

Polysynthesis is more likely to evolve in small, isolated populations pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

We obtained the list of migratory butterflies from our previous research, showing that 568 butterfly species show evidence of migratory movements. (6/6) @CamPhilSoc doi.org/10.1111/brv.12…

Conserving migratory taxa is particularly challenging as they need different types of habitats throughout their annual cycle. Our results show that the situation is dire for the migratory butterflies, although it varies globally. (4/6) @ConBiology doi.org/10.1111/cobi.1…

Due to the bias, 76% of insect species are inadequately represented in protected areas globally, and nearly 2% of species do not overlap with protected areas at all. (3/6) @OneEarth_CP doi.org/10.1016/j.onee…

Protected areas are highly biased, insects have been rarely used as a focal study group, and only 5% of the studies on insects and protected areas are on conservation. (2/6) @Trends_Ecol_Evo doi.org/10.1016/j.tree…

Our new @ConBiology paper shows that current protected areas are inadequate for 👉84% of migratory butterfly species in at least one season 👉45% of species in all seasons. (1/6) @idiv @UNBiodiversity @Society4ConBio @BonnConvention LINK: doi.org/10.1111/cobi.1…

Genotype/phenotype distinction is critical in evolutionary theory (e.g. Central Dogma: DNA<->RNA->protein). Languages don’t separate genotype & phenotype – so do they break evolutionary theory? Or can we still apply biological methods to language data? sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

If you are in Melbourne on Nov 15 and like to think about connecting molecular evolution to macroevolution, come along to this seminar "On the mutability of species" (title borrowed from a draft title for the book that would become Origin of Species). events.unimelb.edu.au/MIG/event/4391…

Islands may be small, but they churn out languages like no other place on Earth! 🌍 New research shows 10% of global languages are island-born. What drives this linguistic diversity? 🗣️ #Linguistics #IslandLife #LanguageEvolution discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/l…

Lindell is amazing, this is guaranteed to be worth reading

Mutation rate is central to understanding #evolution Check out this new #AJB essay by Lindell Bromham doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1… #botany @wileyplantsci @WileyEcolEvol

Seminar on interdisciplinary approaches to understanding language endangerment now available online: doi.org/10.52843/cassy…

Language diversity is facing a global crisis, just like biodiversity. Can methods from biology help us understand patterns of language loss? Join this online seminar to see: Interdisciplinary approaches to understanding language endangerment on 11 Sep cassyni.com/events/3g43LqZ…

Islands are drivers of language diversity worldwide cosmosmagazine.com/nature/evoluti… #science via @CosmosMagazine

A disproportionately large number of the world's languages are endemic to islands, but other aspects of language diversity don't conform to predictions of island biogeography theory, finds a @NatureEcoEvo paper from Bromham et al nature.com/articles/s4155… rdcu.be/dS4Bm

Or there is a shorter blog about it here: Islands are hothouses of language diversity communities.springernature.com/posts/islands-…

Unlike species, island languages are not more endangered than their mainland counterparts. But because they contain more narrowly distributed languages, islands should be recognized as important arks of cultural diversity. You can read the paper here: rdcu.be/dS3Xp

Islands have played a pivotal role in evolutionary biology, focussing theory & providing “laboratories” of evolution. Islands generate biodiversity, but island endemics are also vulnerable to loss. Would we see the same pattern for language diversity? We set out to find out...