Manabu Sakamoto, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Zoology, University of Lincoln
I am an evolutionary biologist, focusing on how biodiversity waxes and wanes through Earth history over millions of years, with special interest in various groups of vertebrates including dinosaurs. I use phylogenetic comparative methods to investigate patterns and processes of speciation, extinction and the evolution of form and function, across phylogeny and through time and space.
I also have industry experience as a data scientist, mainly working on multimedia (TV, online) advertisement exposure and product purchasing behaviour, as well as browser usage type categorisation.
News
PalAss 2020
My talk from the Annual (Virtual) Meeting of the Palaeontological Association 2020, which starts from 29:05.
Postgraduate projects
I am seeking anyone interested in doing a postgraduate research project with me. I list a few project titles below but more will follow. I am also open to discussion about turning your own ideas into research project.
You will join the School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln as a postgraduate student. Details about tuition fees can be found here. Full disclaimer that these projects are not funded so you would need to secure funding - e.g. Government or funding body scholarships - before commencing.
Gerhard Boeggemann -- CC BY-SA 2.5
Is phenotypic evolution associated with environments and geographical ranges?
My recent research shows that phenotypic evolution is accelerated at transitions between foot postures in mammals. This indicates that drastic changes in ecological niches or habitats, have massive impact on how phenotypic traits evolve.
This project will generalise that idea to test whether rates of phenotypic evolution is associated with diversity in ecological niches or the geographical ranges of each species.
Groups of interest can include, dinosaurs, birds or mammals
Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World
Phylogenetically reconstructing the biogeographic history of living and fossil mammals
Most studies on the biogeographic history of mammals uses conventional methods on discritised geographical categories. Additionally, fossil species have often been ignored in biogeographic reconstructions. This project will focus on using map coordinates in living and extinct mammals and inferring the biogeographic history of changes in those coordinates through time and along the branches of the tree of life.
You will use a relatively new Bayesian phylogenetic method to estimate ancestral states of geographic coordinates on a globe in mammals, including fossil species.
The project will involve extensive review of the literature, data collection and data analyses.
Radek Vitoul -- CC BY 2.0
Phylogenetically reconstructing the biogeographic history of crocodilians and their extinct relatives
Despite their global distribution and a very diverse evolutionary history, the biogeogeographic history of crocodilians and their extinct relatives has not received much attention. The aim of this project will be to reconstruct the biogeographic history of crocs from their geographical coordinates.
You will use a relatively new Bayesian phylogenetic method to estimate ancestral states of geographic coordinates on a globe in crocodilians and their extinct relatives.
The project will involve extensive review of the literature, data collection and data analyses.
Potentially suitable as a 1-year Masters project
Dantheman9758 at English Wikipedia -- CC BY 3.0
Phylogenetics of sabre-toothed cats and their living relatives
Despite the popularity of sabre-toothed cats, their relationships with their living relatives and extinct ancestors are not fully understood. This stems from a lack of data- and model-driven, quantitative reconstructions of their phylogenetic relations.
You will review phylogenetically informative traits, collect relevant data and infer the phylogenetic relationships and timings of lineage divergences in living and extinct felids using relevant Bayesian approaches.