Birds of Distinction - Untangling Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity - Dr Keaghan J Yaxley

Birds of Distinction - untangling functional and phylogenetic diversity
Phylogenetic diversity (PD) quantifies the amount of evolutionary history represented by a group of taxa and it has been widely embraced by researchers as a means of measuring a unique facet of biodiversity and given rise to a host of related conservation indices. One of the motives behind the development of phylogenetic diversity was that it could stand in as a proxy for functional or feature diversity, the logic being that species that are more distantly related will also on average be more dissimilar in terms of their traits and niches. Yet, numerous studies that have tested this relationship have reported contradictory findings even within the same study system. Thanks to the publication of various global datasets, most recently the AVONET trait database, we are in a unique position to use birds to ask questions about the phylogenetic and functional diversity relationship at unprecedented taxonomic and spatial scale. In this seminar I will discuss the findings of three separate studies that have sought to characterise and explain global variation in the relationship between avian functional and phylogenetic diversity.
Bio - Dr Keaghan J Yaxley
Keaghan is currently a research officer across town in the ANU’s MacroEcoEvo Lab. He completed his PhD at the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the University of Cambridge. Keaghan’s work is largely focused on macroevolution and finding ways to incorporate phylogeny into conservation planning. Keaghan also has a side-project applying phylogenetic inference ad comparative methods to non-biological evolving systems, such as languages, pop-culture, and galaxies. You can check out Keaghan’s work on his Google Scholar Page.