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Karstic mountain within the Kapalat Mada area, Pulau Buru, Indonesia.
Macroevolution and phylogeny
geographic variation (e.g. Hypothymis azurea or Terpsiphone paradisi). Many studies have focused on the geographical variation of plumage and behavior within genus as for Hypothymis (Oberholser, 1911), Monarcha (Mayr and Diamond, 2001; Filardy and Smith, 2005; Uy et al., 2008), and Terpsiphone (Chapin, 1948; Mizuta, 2003). However, Hypothymis, Terpsiphone and some East Indonesian Monarcha species have not well been sampled in a molecular phylogenetic framework and there is only few studies who address the relationship between genera of this Afro-Asian family (Pasquet et al, 2002; Filardi and Moyle, 2005). These taxa constitute then an exciting group to carry out molecular analyses, field study, systematic and biogeographical inferences. Monarchidae: Monarcha loricatus, Buru, Indonesia, 2011Adaptive radiation and non-adaptive radiation
Understanding why some lineages display higher taxonomic diversity and ecomorphological disparity has been one of the most
Understanding why some lineages display higher taxonomic diversity and eco-morphological disparity is one of the most outstanding question in evolutionary biology and ecology. My research entailed the use of both molecular and morphological databases to produce exhaustive phylogenies, together with molecular dating methodologies to provide a temporal framework. My key work was the incorporation of biometric, morphometric and biogeographical data into macroevolutionary analysis. This allows to address questions about diversification rate variations and their link with key innovations or historical events.Rodent supermatrix.Biogeography and phylogeny of Monarchidae
Pattern of geographic variation and systematic among passerine birds is a crucial topic to understand their speciation process and pattern. One of the most interesting family is the Monarchidae. In fact, they have spread over most of the Old World (including Africa, Asia and Australasia) where they display very interesting patterns of
intensive fields of study in evolutionary biology. In this context, the emergence of ecologically and morphologically divergent sympatric species has been explained in the light of the adaptive radiation theory. An adaptive radiation is a rapid diversification within a single lineage into an exceptional variety of species that inhabit a variety of environments or differ in the morphological and/or physiological traits used to exploit these environments. However, some clades are characterised by high species diversity without clear ecomorphological disparity. Both adaptive and non-adaptive patterns of radiation are crucial to understanding the deterministic forces that shape diversification and community assembly. Using multiple clades of ecomorphologically-similar lineages that have diversified against a common biogeographic and ecological background will help me to correlate macroevolution and ecological theory. I currently using the Indo-Pacific murine and core Corvoidea models to assess the importance of island biogeography, niche conservatism, competition, and environmental filtering in producing taxon assemblages across this complex insular landcape. Vangidae adaptive radiation.Drawing by Jon Fjeldsa.
Moluccan Muridae systematic
The Moluccas make up the island region west of New Guinea and are part of the biologically unique transition zone – Wallacea, between Australia and Asia. The region is very high in endemism and relatively little mammal work has been carried out in this remote part of Indonesia. The most diversified mammal group within the Wallacean region is constituted by the Muridae family which is represented by 10 endemic species belonging to two groups (i) the rats (Rattini tribe) and (ii) the old australian endemic (cf. uromyine tribe; Rowe et al., 2008, Lecompte et al., 2008). If the diversity of these murid rodents seems consequent in Sulawesi (Musser and Holden, 1991;
Musser and Durden, 2002) and Seram (Helgen et al., 2003) islands, nearly nothing is known from another wallacean islands and the large islands of Halmahera (km2) and Buru (km2) seems depauperate compared to the another indo-pacific archipelago (Musser and Heaney, 1992; Helgen et al., 2003). During our previous investigation on birds and mammals, one Melomys like rodent have been observed in the Kapalat Mada area and fieldworks of the mammalian researchers from the LIPI have revealed at least three new species of Muridae on Halmahera that we are currently describing. Further investigation are then required in order to described accurately biodiversity of small mammals and also improve our knowledges about the biogeography of this poorly known area. Indo-Pacific MURIDAE: Melomys paveli, Binaya, Seram, Indonesia, 2012 Collaborators:
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