Elmer Lab

New paper, in press with Systematics and Biodiversity " Hierarchies of evolutionary radiation in the world’s most species rich vertebrate group, the Neotropical Pristimantis leaf litter frogs " Emily Waddell & Marco Crotti, Stephen C Lougheed, David Cannatella, Kathryn R Elmer In this paper we add a number of new specimens to the mix in this highly diverse yet deeply cryptic group of frogs. Using molecular techniques we show that several of these are new species and we also contribute new diversity to known species. We then analyse the rate and pattern of evolution across the entire phylogeny. We suggest that these 'higher evolutionarily significant units' might be a useful way of grouping and investigating diversification patterns in these famously diverse species. This was part of Emily's MRes project which she conducted in our group. In fact this project started as part of my PhD work, then was added to in later research with Dave Cannatella and the A...

Congratulations to two of the lab's recent PhD graduates, Hans Recknagel ("Environmental constraints and genetic basis for the evolution of viviparity") and Arne Jacobs ("The population genomic origins of ecological specialisation in salmonid fishes"), both (*both!*) of whom were nominated by their respective examining committees for the university's top honours - the thesis prize. This ranks them in the top 5% of theses examined at the University of Glasgow in the academic year. Fantastic work!