Dr. Rosana Zenil-Ferguson | Zenil-Ferguson Lab
 

Abstract:
What factors, including phenotypic traits,  ecology, and biogeography, contribute to the persistence and speciation of some lineages, while others go extinct?

Answering this question requires the integration of mathematical modeling and statistical inference with carefully curated field observations, phenotypic trait data, and phylogenetic trees to elucidate the evolutionary processes responsible for the origin and maintenance of the 300,000 flowering plants we see today.  In this talk, I will talk broadly about the interdisciplinary approach used in my lab to understand plant macroevolution. I will show some incredible examples of flowering plants in the Andean mountains and how new models help us disentangle difficult evolutionary mechanisms in the Tropics. Finally, I will discuss how careful model-thinking and innovative statistical approaches can help address key questions in macroevolution and recover plant diversifications previously lost.