BioProject

Understanding how shifts in biodiversity are driven by biotic and abiotic factors is a major goal of evolutionary biology. More...

Understanding how shifts in biodiversity are driven by biotic and abiotic factors is a major goal of evolutionary biology. This project explores phylogenetic diversification in Blaberoid cockroaches, a group that is ubiquitous, diverse, and economically important. Blaberoid cockroaches are highly diverse (3600 species) and there are no tested hypotheses for what drove their diversification. We explore three paradigms as diversity drivers: 1) Large changes in genital morphology that prevent interbreeding of lineages; 2) evolution of novel parental care strategies; and 3) invasion of new biogeographical ranges. The questions addressed by this research include: (1) What is the phylogeny of Blaberoidea?; (2) Where on the phylogenetic tree, and when in evolutionary time, did the major increases in diversification rates occur?; and (3) Which evolutionary events (as in the three paradigms above) best predict increases in diversity? The first goal is being achieved through phylogenetic reconstruction using thorough taxon sampling, next-gen sequencing and phylogenomic methods. Shifts in these rates are then being used in the context of trait changes to understand how traits may have driven diversification in Blaberoidea. Less...