W. Bryan Jennings
Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology,
Harvard University,
26 Oxford Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138
MCZ Room 500C
Tel: 617-496-9389
Fax: 617-495-5667
email: bjennings(at)oeb.harvard.edu
Research Interests:
My research integrates molecular phylogenetic, population genetic, genomic, and ecological approaches to understand the evolutionary and ecological basis of biodiversity. This research combines laboratory genetic work with fieldwork in places such as western North America, Costa Rica , and Australia . As a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin in the laboratory of Dr. Eric R. Pianka , I conducted a molecular phylogenetic study of Australian pygopodid lizards in collaboration with Dr. Stephen Donnellan of the South Australian Museum . I also maintain a long-term study of Mediterranean lizard diversity in Western Australia with Dr. Graham Thompson at Edith Cowan University in Perth . My postdoctoral research, which began at the University of Washington and continues at Harvard University in the laboratory of Dr. Scott V. Edwards , concerns the comparative phylogeography and historical demography of Australian songbirds in relation to geographic barriers located in northern Australia . This research is concerned with using multiple nuclear genes and recently developed coalescent maximum likelihood and Bayesian statistical programs to infer population genetic parameters such as historical effective population sizes, speciation times, and species phylogenies for closely related Australian passerine birds. We then use this information to reconstruct the speciational history of these birds in order to understand the importance of geological barriers to Australian bird diversification.
Recent Publications:
Jennings, W. B., E. R. Pianka, and S. Donnellan. 2003. Systematics of lizards in the family Pygopodidae with implications for the diversification of Australian temperate biotas. Systematic Biology 52:757-780.
Jennings, W. B. and Eric R. Pianka. 2004. Tempo and timing of the Australian Varanus radiation. In E. R. Pianka and D. R. King (Eds.), Varanoid Lizards of the World . Indiana University Press.
Edwards, S. V., S. B. Kingan, J. D. Calkins, C. N. Balakrishnan, W. B. Jennings, W. J. Swanson, and M. D. Sorenson. 2005. Speciation in birds: genes, geography, and sexual selection. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences 102:6550-6557.
Edwards, S. V., W. B. Jennings, and A. Shedlock. 2005. Phylogenetics of modern birds in the era of genomics. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.
Jennings, W. B. and S. V. Edwards. 2005. Speciational history of Australian grass finches ( Poephila ) inferred from 30 gene trees. Evolution.