Nest architecture is linked with ecological success in songbirds.

Nests are essential constructions that determine fitness, yet their structure can vary substantially across bird species. While there is evidence supporting a link between nest architecture and the habitat a species occupies, we still ignore what ecological and evolutionary processes are linked to different nest types. Using information on 3175 species of songbirds, we show that-after controlling for latitude and body size-species that build domed nests (i.

Fast and Accurate Estimation of Species-Specific Diversification Rates Using Data Augmentation.

Diversification rates vary across species as a response to various factors, including environmental conditions and species-specific features. Phylogenetic models that allow accounting for and quantifying this heterogeneity in diversification rates have proven particularly useful for understanding clades diversification. Recently, we introduced the cladogenetic diversification rate shift model, which allows inferring multiple rate changes of small magnitude across lineages.

An individual-based model for the eco-evolutionary emergence of bipartite interaction networks.

How ecological interaction networks emerge on evolutionary time scales remains unclear. Here we build an individual-based eco-evolutionary model for the emergence of mutualistic, antagonistic and neutral bipartite interaction networks. Exploring networks evolved under these scenarios, we find three main results.

A model with many small shifts for estimating species-specific diversification rates.

Understanding how and why diversification rates vary through time and space and across species groups is key to understanding the emergence of today's biodiversity. Phylogenetic approaches aimed at identifying variations in diversification rates during the evolutionary history of clades have focused on exceptional shifts subtending evolutionary radiations. While such shifts have undoubtedly affected the history of life, identifying smaller but more frequent changes is important as well.

The Latitudinal Diversity Gradient: Novel Understanding through Mechanistic Eco-evolutionary Models.

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most widely studied patterns in ecology, yet no consensus has been reached about its underlying causes. We argue that the reasons for this are the verbal nature of existing hypotheses, the failure to mechanistically link interacting ecological and evolutionary processes to the LDG, and the fact that empirical patterns are often consistent with multiple explanations. To address this issue, we synthesize current LDG hypotheses, uncovering their eco-evolutionary mechanisms, hidden assumptions, and commonalities.

Ranked Tree Shapes, Nonrandom Extinctions, and the Loss of Phylogenetic Diversity.

Phylogenetic diversity (PD) is a measure of the evolutionary legacy of a group of species, which can be used to define conservation priorities. It has been shown that an important loss of species diversity can sometimes lead to a much less important loss of PD, depending on the topology of the species tree and on the distribution of its branch lengths. However, the rate of decrease of PD strongly depends on the relative depths of the nodes in the tree and on the order in which species become extinct.

A model for the origin of group reproduction during the evolutionary transition to multicellularity.

During the evolution of multicellular organisms, the unit of selection and adaptation, the individual, changes from the single cell to the multicellular group. To become individuals, groups must evolve a group life cycle in which groups reproduce other groups. Investigations into the origin of group reproduction have faced a chicken-and-egg problem: traits related to reproduction at the group level often appear both to be a result of and a prerequisite for natural selection at the group level.