publications

(*indicates Undergraduate, Graduate or Postdoctoral Mentee)

Green, DR, KT Uno, ER Miller, CS Feibel, EE Aoron, CC Beck, A Grossman, FM Kirera, MM Kirinya, LN Leakey, C Liutkus-Pierce, FK Manthi, EK Ndiema, IO Nengo, C Nyete, J Rowan, GA Russo, WJ Sanders, TM Smiley, P Princehouse, NS Vitek, & TP Cleland. 2025. 29 million years of diverse mammalian proteomes recovered from the East African Rift System. Nature 643: 712-718.

Jahn, AE, D de Angeli Dutra, JA Bell, JH Dispotot, A Fecchio, ED Ketterson, KMD Kuabara, TM Smiley, TB Verret, JD Weckstein, EJ Williams, & DJ Becker. 2025. Between- and within-population drivers of haemosporidian prevalence and diversity in American robins (Turdus migratorius). Journal of Avian Biology 3: e03430.

Jahn, AE, K Koller, LB Martin, TM Smiley, TB Verret, ED Ketterson, EJ Williams, & DJ Becker. 2025. Temporal patterns, behavioral drivers, and physiological correlates of West Nile virus exposure in American robins (Turdus migratorius). Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology 98(3): 133-206.

Muthukrishnan, R, TM Smiley, PO Title, A Fudickar, A Jahn, & J Lau. 2025. Chasing the niche: Escaping climate change threats in time, space, and place. Global Change Biology.

• Media coverage: https://eri.iu.edu/news-and-events/_news/archive/2025/20250529-study-highlights-complexities-of-species-response-to-climate-change.html

Marder, E*, TM Smiley, BJ Yanites, K Kravitz. 2025. Direct effects of mountain uplift and topography on biodiversity. Science, 387(6740): 1287-1291.

• All authors contributed equally to this work

• Highlighted by Science: https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.adx5174

• Media coverage: https://news.iu.edu/college/live/news/44827-iu-geoscientists-co-author-study-that-finds; https://nautil.us/as-mountains-rise-biodiversity-blooms-1205605/; https://www.earth.com/news/how-rising-mountains-give-birth-to-new-species/

Smiley, TM, A Bahadori, ET Rasbury, WE Holt, & C Badgley. 2024. Tectonic extension and paleoelevation influence mammalian diversity dynamics in the Basin and Range. Science Advances 10(25): eadn6842.

Byrd, A, KM Talbott, TM Smiley, MS Gross, ML Hladk, ED Ketterson & DJ Becker. 2024. Determinants of spring migration departure dates in a New World sparrow: weather variables reign supreme. Ecology and Evolution. 14(2): e10874

Bahadori, A, et al. including TM Smiley (18 co-authors). 2022. Lithosphere dynamics drive uplift of the Colorado Plateau and formation of the Grand Canyon. Nature Communications 13(1): 1-18.

Becker, DJ, A Byrd, TM Smiley, et al. (8 co-authors). 2022. Novel Rickettsia spp. in two common overwintering North American passerines. Emerging Infectious Diseases 11(1): 2746-2748.

Houser, M, A Sullivan, TM Smiley, R Muthukrishnan, E Grennan Browning, A Fudickar, P Title, J Bertram, & M Whiteman. 2021. Commentary: What fosters the success of a transdisciplinary environmental research institute? Reflections on the role of organizational and individual factors from an interdisciplinary research cohort. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 9(1): 00132.

Wanamaker, SM, D Singh, AJ Byrd, TM Smiley, & ED Ketterson. 2020. Local adaptations from afar: migratory bird populations diverge in the initiation of reproductive timing while wintering in sympatry. Biology Letters 16(10): 20200493.

Barido-Sottani, J, E Saupe, TM Smiley, LC Soul, A Wright, & RC Warnock. 2020. Seven rules for simulations in paleobiology. Paleobiology 46(4): 435-444.

Smiley, TM, PO Title & ML Zelditch, & RC Terry. 2020. Multi-dimensional biodiversity hotspots and the future of taxonomic, ecological and phylogenetic diversity: a case study of North American rodents. Global Ecology and Biogeography 29(3): 516-533.

Becker, DJ, KM Talbott, TM Smiley, KL Clark, P Sauer, & ED Ketterson. 2019. Leukocyte profiles vary between sympatric residents and overwintering migrant songbirds and with infection status following fall migration. Animal Migration 6: 28-40.

Blumenthal, S, TE Cerling, TM Smiley, C Badgley, & TW Plummer. 2019. Isotopic records of climate seasonality in equid teeth. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 260: 329-348.

Loughney, K & TM Smiley. 2019. The middle Miocene in Southern California: Mammals, environments, and tectonics of the Barstow, Crowder, and Cajon Valley formations: Field Trip of the North American Paleontological Convention, June 22, 2019. PaleoBios 36.

Smiley, TM. 2018. Detecting diversification processes in relation to preservation and tectonic history from simulated fossil records. Paleobiology 44(1): 1-24. (Featured article & Editor’s selection for Open Access)

Badgley, C, TM Smiley, & R Cable. 2018. Mountains, climate, and mammals, in Mountains, Climate, and Biodiversity (eds. C. Hoorn and A. Antonelli), p. 201-216. John Wiley and Sons Ltd, Chichester.

Smiley, TM, EG Hyland, JM Cotton, & RE Reynolds. 2018. Early evidence of C4 grasses, precipitation variability, and faunal response during the Miocene Climatic Optimum in the Mojave region. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 490: 415-430.

Badgley, C, TM Smiley, RC Terry, et al. (16 co-authors) 2017. Biodiversity and topographic complexity: Modern and geohistorical perspectives. Trends in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology 32(3): 211-226.

Smiley, TM, & RC Terry. 2017. Paleoecology: methods. Invited article for Encyclopedia of Life Sciences, John Wiley and Sons Ltd, Chichester.

Smiley, TM. 2016. Changes in small-mammal diversity and ecology in relation to landscape and climate change over the Neogene. Frontiers of Biogeography 8(4): e32713.

Smiley, TM, JM Cotton, C Badgley, & TE Cerling. 2015. Small-mammal isotope ecology tracks climate and vegetation gradients across western North America. Oikos 125: 1100-1109.

Badgley, C, TM Smiley, & JA Finarelli. 2014. Great Basin mammal diversity in relation to landscape history. Journal of Mammalogy 95(6): 1090-1106.

Prothero, DR, E Draus, EA Nesbitt, TM Smiley, & C Burns. 2009. Paleomagnetism and tectonic rotation of the Eocene-Oligocene rocks of the Quimper Peninsula, northeastern Olympic Peninsula, Washington, Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 43(2): 127-138.

Smiley, T, C Sidor, A Maga, & O Ide. 2008. The vertebrate fauna of the Upper Permian of Niger. VI. First Evidence of a Gorgonopsid Therapsid. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(2): 543-547.

(*indicates Undergraduate, Graduate or Postdoctoral Mentee)

– 2024 –

Henkes, G, C Beck, C Feibel, CJ Poulsen, KT Uno… TM Smiley,... & I Žliobaite. 2024. Miocene Landscape Reconstruction and Faunal Evolution in Kenya's Turkana Basin: a Report from the Turkana Miocene Project. Geological Society of America Abstracts (Vol. 56, p. 402921), Anaheim, CA. (Invited talk)

Barrett, PZ*, J Rowan & TM Smiley. 2024. Functional and taxonomic turnover are decoupled across the Neogene mammalian record of eastern Africa. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Minneapolis, MN. (talk)

Wyatt, MR*, JJ Calède, & TM Smiley. 2024. Evidence for a spatial range expansion of the Miocene-aged heteromyid Schizodontomys harkseni: implications for the biogeographic ranges of Heteromyidae (Rodentia). Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Minneapolis, MN. (poster)

Unruh-Friesen, EG*, MD D'Emic, S Hoffmann, & TM Smiley. 2024. Stable isotope geochemistry of the large-bodied pantodont Coryphodon from the Western Interior of North America. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Minneapolis, MN. (talk)

D'Emic, MD, EG Unruh-Friesen*, TM Smiley, & S Hoffmann. 2024. Bone and tooth histology of the large-bodied pantodont Coryphodon from the Western Interior of North America. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Minneapolis, MN. (talk)

Welles, I*, & TM Smiley. Spatio-temporal drivers of intra-annual dietary niche variation in a ubiquitous generalist rodent. American Society of Mammalogists, Boulder, CO. (talk)

Wyatt, MR*, & TM Smiley. 2024. Spatial diversity and trait disparity of modern Heteromyidae (Rodentia) with implications for the relationship between dynamic landscapes and evolutionary history over deep time. North American Paleontological Convention, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. (talk)

Lavin, SL*, & TM Smiley. 2024. Revealing Pattern and Process of East African Rodent Diversity. North American Paleontological Convention, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. (poster)

– 2023 –

Marder, A, BJ Yanites, TM Smiley, & K Kravitz. 2023. Evaluating the relationship between topographic complexity and biodiversity in deep time: new insights from a coupled landscape-biology evolution model. American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA. (talk)

Smiley, TM, E Marder, & BJ Yanites. 2023b. Coupled landscape and biotic evolution model reveals deep-time history of the topographic diversity gradient. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Cincinnati, OH. (talk)

Wyatt, MR*, NS Vitek, & TM Smiley. 2023. Modern spatial diversity, disparity, and turnover in the Heteromyidae (Rodentia). Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Cincinnati, OH. (poster)

Smiley, TM et al. 2023a. Ecological diversity of Turkana Basin mammalian faunas in the Miocene: updates from the Turkana Miocene Project. Africa: The Human Cradle: An International Conference Paying Tribute to Richard E. Leakey, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY. (Invited talk)

Welles, I*, & TM Smiley. 2023. Individual variation in seasonal isotopic niche as an indicator of resilience in a generalist rodent. American Society of Mammalogists, Anchorage, AK. (poster)

– 2022 –

Smiley, TM, C Badgley, A Bahadori, R Feng, WE Holt, & T Rasbury. 2022. Mountains as biodiversity hotspots through time: integrating fossils with tectonics and climate. American Society of Mammalogists, Tucson, AZ. (invited talk for session “Mammal Diversity in Dynamic Landscapes”)

– 2021 –

Calede, JJ, & TM Smiley. 2021. A database for rodent body mass for the end Oligocene through Pliocene. Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists, virtual. (talk)

Kohli, BA, & TM Smiley. 2021. Plotting a course for mammalogy research amid the functional trait revolution: a brief introduction to the symposium. American Society of Mammologists, virtual. (talk)

– 2020 –

Smiley, TM, A Bahadori, R Feng, C Badgley, & WE Holt. 2020. Diversity in a changing landscape: coupling tectonic, climatic, and biotic processes in the Basin and Range Province over the Neogene. Geological Society of America, virtual. (Invited talk for session “Co-evolution of Phanerozoic climate, landscapes and terrestrial ecosystems”)

Kort, AE*, EJ Hicks*, J Calede, & TM Smiley. 2020. Quantifying individual variation and wear in the extinct pocket gopher Entoptychus (Mammalia, Rodentia) Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, virtual. (poster)

– 2019 and earlier –

Smiley, TM, C Badgley, A Bahadori, R Feng, WE Holt, KM Loughney, & RC Terry. 2019a. Diversity responses to landscape change in the Basin and Range Province: Tectonics influence macroevolutionary dynamics and faunal structure in mammals over the Neogene. American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA. (invited talk)

Smiley, TM, JM Cotton, NR Packard, M Jimenez*, & RC Terry. 2019b. Mice-oscapes: Using isotopes to understand the effects of climate and landscape change on small-mammal ecology over the past century. Ecological Society of America, Louisville, KY. (talk)

Smiley, TM, A Bahadori, WE Holt, T Rasbury, & C Badgley. 2019c. Basin and Range tectonics drive diversification dynamics in North American mammals. North American Paleontological Convention, Riverside, CA. (talk)

Smiley, TM, RC Terry, C Badgley, A Bahadori, WE Holt, & T Rasbury. 2018. Were mountain passes higher in the Middle Miocene? Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Albuquerque, NM. (talk)

Smiley, TM, M Moroz*, C Badgley, & TE Cerling. 2017a. Ecological response to environmental change: insights from the Miocene small-mammal record of southern California. Geological Society of America, Seattle, WA. (talk)

Smiley, TM, C Badgley, RC Terry, EB Davis, B Riddle, B Yanites, J Finarelli & S Hopkins. 2017b. Biodiver-sity and topographic complexity: modern and geohistorical perspectives. Evolution, Portland, OR. (talk)

Smiley, TM. 2017. Detecting diversification process in relation to tectonic activity from an incomplete fossil record. International Biogeography Society, Tucson, AZ. (talk)

Badgley, C, TM Smiley, WE Holt, A Bahadori & ET Rasbury. 2017. Mammal diversification tracks landscape history in the Great Basin of western North American. International Biogeography Society, Tucson, AZ. (talk)

A Bahadori, WE Holt, ET Rasbury, L Liu, L Flesch, C Badgley, TM Smiley & R Smith. 2016. Reconstruction of topography and lithosphere dynamics within the Basin and Range of western North America since 36 Ma. American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, CA. (talk)

Smiley, TM. 2016. Mountains and mammals: linking landscape and climate change to diversification in Neogene rodents. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Salt Lake City, UT. (talk in Romer Prize session)

Moroz, M*, TM Smiley, & C Badgley. 2016. Ecological response of small-mammal assemblages to environmental change over the Miocene Climatic Optimum in southern California. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Salt Lake City, UT. (Finalist in the Colbert Student Prize poster session)

Badgley, C, TM Smiley, WE Holt, & ET Rasbury. 2016. Great Basin mammal diversity and tectonic history. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Salt Lake City, UT. (talk)

Smiley, TM, L McQuarter*, & C Badgley. 2016. Geometric-morphometric analysis of Dipodomys ordii dentition: shape change along environmental and climatic gradients. American Society of Mammalogy, Minneapolis, MN. (Invited poster for symposium “Morphometric Approaches to Studying Mammalian Evolution and Ecology”)

Moroz, M*, TM Smiley, & C Badgley. 2016. Variation in dental morphology among heteromyid rodents in present-day and fossil communities. American Society of Mammalogy, Minneapolis, MN. (poster)

Smiley, TM, & C Badgley. 2015. Patterns of Miocene mammalian diversity across spatial scales in the Great Basin of western North America. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Dallas, TX. (talk)

Moroz, M*, TM Smiley, & C Badgley. 2015. Variation in dental morphology of modern and fossil heteromyid assemblages. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Dallas, TX. (poster)

Smiley, TM, C Badgley, & TE Cerling. 2015a. Dietary ecology of diverse Miocene rodent faunas from the Mojave region based on in situ stable isotope analysis. Cleveland Museum of Natural History Paleoecology Symposium, Cleveland, OH. (poster)

Smiley, TM, EG Hyland, & JM Cotton. 2015b. Approaches for reconstructing paleoenvironment in the Cajon Valley and Crowder formations, southern California. CSU-Fullerton Desert Symposium, Zzyzx, CA. (Best student talk awarded)

Badgley, C, TM Smiley, & K Loughney. 2015. Miocene mammal diversity of the Mojave region in the context of Great Basin mammal history. CSU-Fullerton Desert Symposium, Zzyzx, CA. (talk)

Smiley, TM, C Badgley, EG Hyland, JM Cotton, & RE Reynolds. 2014. Coupling environmental change and ecological response: The Miocene of the Mojave Desert, California. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Berlin, Germany. (talk)

Smiley, TM, & C Badgley. 2014. Spatial variation in stable isotope ecology of small mammals in western North America. Geologic Society of America, Vancouver, BC. (Invited talk for session “Dynamic landscapes and the diversification of North American Rodents”)

Moroz, M*, TM Smiley, & C Badgley. 2014. Fossil mammals from the ancient Mojave: Tracking faunal and environmental change. National Conference of Undergraduate Research, Lexington, KY. (poster)

Smiley, TM, C Badgley, & J Finarelli. 2013. Miocene mammal diversity in relation to tectonic and climatic history of the Basin and Range Province. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Los Angeles, CA. (talk)

Smiley, TM, C Badgley, & AK Behrensmeyer. 2012. Stable oxygen and carbon isotopes record seasonal variation in drinking water and diet of modern large herbivores in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Raleigh, NC. (talk)

Badgley, C, TM Smiley, & JA Finarelli. 2012. Great Basin mammalian diversity in the context of landscape evolution. American Society of Mammalogists, Reno, NV. (Invited talk)

Smiley, TM, C Sidor, J Steyer, & N Tabor. 2007. First Evidence for a therapsid in the Upper Permian Moradi Formation of Niger. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Austin, TX. (poster)