NRS Invited Seminar Series: Adaptive zones in vertebrates

Adaptive zones in vertebrates: hosted by the Gillung Lab

Why do some groups have so many species? Why are some clades morphologically diverse? And what are the processes driving these patterns? In this talk, Dr. Laura Alencar, Postdoctoral Researcher, Clemson University, USA, shows how the “adaptive zone” concept proposed by the paleontologist G.G. Simpson can help us answer such questions at different temporal and spatial scales. Using several research projects that she has been involved with, Dr. Alencar will empirically demonstrate how the invasion of different habitats by vipers or the emergence of certain key innovations in fishes shaped the macroevolutionary patterns in these groups. Dr. Alencar will then scale down to look at processes happening within biological communities and at the population-level that potentially impact the diversification trajectories that we observe at broader temporal scales.

Dr. Laura Alencar, Postdoctoral Researcher, Clemson University, USA

Dr. Alencar is a herpetologist and evolutionary biologist. The central goal of her research is to understand what generates and maintains biodiversity. Specifically, she investigates the mechanisms that trigger the expansion of vertebrates into new adaptive zones and the subsequent impact on their radiation. She is also interested in how population-level and microevolutionary processes might translate into the signals we detect at the macroevolutionary scale. She did her PhD at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Clemson University, USA.

Zoom link: contact jessica.gillung [at] mcgill.ca (Prof. Jessica Gillung)

We hope to see you there!