Curator and Section Head, Life Sciences
Negaunee Integrative Research Center
Contact Information
- 312.665.7730 (office)
- 312.665.7754 (fax)
- jbates@fieldmuseum.org
The tropics harbor the highest species diversity on the planet. I am most intrigued by evolution at the tips of the tree of life. My students and I study genetic structure in tropical birds and other organisms to address how this diversity evolved and how it continues to evolve as climates change and humans continue to alter landscapes.
We study comparative genetic structure and evolution primarily in the Afrotropics, the Neotropics, and the Asian tropics. I am an ornithologist, but students working with me and my wife Shannon Hackett and other museum curators also have studied amphibians and small mammals (bats and rodents) and more recently internal, external and blood parasites (e.g., Lutz et al. 2015, Block et al. 2015, Patitucci et al. 2016). Research in the our lab has involved gathering and interpreting genetic data in both phylogeographic and phylogenetic frameworks. Phylogenetic work on Neotropical birds has focused on rates of diversification and comparative biogeography (Tello and Bates 2007, Pantané et al 2009, Patel et al. 2011, Lutz et al. 2013, Dantas et al. 2015). Phylogeographic work has sought to understand comparative patterns of divergence at level of population and species across different biomes (Bates et al 2003, Bates et al. 2004, Bowie et al. 2006, I. Caballero dissertation research, Block et al. 2015, Winger and Bates 2015, Lawson et al. 2015). We also have used genetic data to better understand evolutionary patterns in relation...
Education and Work
Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 1993.
M.S., University of Arizona, 1987.
B.S., University of Arizona, 1983.
Accomplishments
See attached publication list
Research Sketch
Systematics, genetic structure, and geographic variation in the tropics.
My research focuses on genetic structure of tropical birds, primarily at the level of populations and species. At a continental scale, I use data from DNA sequences to uncover patterns of history among lineages of South American, African, and Malagasy birds. Multi-taxon studies, in which samples of different taxa are obtained at each geographic site provide insightful comparative data sets. Coupled with an understanding of distribution and ecology, we can search for correlations between molecular differentiation and other aspects of the biology of these birds such as morphological differentiation, ecology (e.g., habitat selection, foraging guild membership, breeding system, degree of seasonal movement) and phylogenetic relationships (phylogenetic constraints). With Shannon Hackett and TFM research scientist Jason Weckstein, I have been studying co-evolutionary patterns in birds, their parasites and pathogens. In addition to addressing evolutionary questions, I have focused research efforts on demonstating how patterns of genetic structure have relevance to conservation biology.
My former students have studied similar questions in birds and other organisms throughout the tropics (e.g., flycatchers and antbirds in the neotropical lowlands, Jose Tello; Albertine Rift warblers, Charles Kahindo; Ana ...
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