Check this page regularly for updates about what Justin and his collaborators have been up to lately, including news about research progress, travel, meetings and other events.
Justin's first paper from his current postdoc in the Muchhala lab, on Hyb-Seq phylogenomics of Neotropical Burmeistera bellflowers, was just accepted pending minor revisions in the journal, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution!
Justin's paper on DNA barcoding for species identification and detection of cryptic lineages in freshwater fishes from headwater streams of the Brazilian Cerrado is now published in Journal of Fish Biology!
Our paper, led by Mitra Menon, on how hybridization-mediated introgression during speciation-with-gene flow in Pinus strobiformis has contributed to adaptation and movement of its hybrid zone with P. flexilis, has now been published in Evolutionary Applications!
Justin has taken a new postdoc position in Nathan Muchhala's lab at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) as part of an NSF project on phylogenomics and speciation in Burmeistera bellflowers (Campanulaceae) from the Tropical Andes biodiversity 'hotspot'!
Justin's manuscript co-authored with Rick Mayden and Phil Harris on Bayesian 'total-evidence' dating and phylogenetics using morphological, molecular, and fossil data for North American 'sucker' fishes (family Catostomidae) has now been published in PeerJ.
Our paper on the role of hybridization, demography, and niche divergence during ecological speciation and maintenance of species boundaries in southwestern white pine (Menon et al. 2018) is now published in Molecular Ecology!
Justin and Andrew attended the International Plant & Animal Genome XXVI Conference in San Diego, CA, where Justin presented his poster on inferring demographic history of divergence and migration in southwestern white pine and limber pine based on ddRAD-seq SNPs.
Our paper entitled, "Strategies for improving approximate Bayesian computation tests for synchronous diversification", led by Isaac Overcast and co-authored by myself and Mike Hickerson, has been accepted and published in BMC Evolutionary Biology.
June 23–27, 2017 - Justin and the Eckert lab are attending the Evolution 2017 Meetings (joint SSE, ASN, and SSB meetings) in Portland, OR. We look forward to learning cutting edge science, seeing friends, forging new collaborations, and giving great presentations of our hard-eared research. Justin is presenting ddRAD-seq phylogeography results from his Brazilian postdoc, as well as his new VCU pine tree postdoc, on Sunday & Monday. He tweeted out his schedule Wednesday morning, en route to Portland State University. Keep watching us on Twitter (@JBagz1, @iowensis, @evolMM) for more updates about #Evol2017!
April 1, 2017 - Justin has officially started his new job in the Eckert Lab, located in the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Department of Biology! He will be part of a broader NSF MacroSystems Biology project studying the ecological and evolutionary genomics of southwestern white pine (and related species of white pines), including studies of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors during ecological speciation, SNP-based population genomics and hybridization, and local and regional adaptation of SWWP populations to high-elevation (montane) and longitudinal environmental gradients.
March 29, 2017 - Justin and Flor moved the family to Richmond, VA to start new jobs at Virginia Commonwealth University. Justin was awarded a postdoctoral scholar position that is part of a ~$500,000 portion of a $4 million NSF MacroSystems Biology grant!
June 6, 2016 - Our manuscript on Amatitlania convict cichlid phylogeography and Bayesian species delimitation is now accepted at the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society!
Congrats to Justin and his co-authors Wilfredo Matamoros, Caleb McMahan, Michi Tobler, Prosanta Chakrabarty, and Jerry Johnson on the first paper stemming from their group collaboration on the phylogeography of Central American freshwater fishes. The picture at the top right of this page is a convict cichlid. Hopefully, this group will continue to collaborate on great things in the near future!
June 2, 2016 - Justin completed and submitted the revised version of our manuscript on phylogeography and species delimitation in Amatitlania 'convict cichlids' to BJLS. Fingers crossed! This has been a year-long revision process, given interruptions from Justin's fieldwork and other activities related to his current postdoc position.