Global patterns of biodiversity

Surprisingly, many large-scale patterns of biodiversity (such as the latitudinal diversity gradient) are still poorly understood. We use large, global-scale databases of the distributions and phylogenies of mammals and birds to test hypotheses about the underlying causes of global biodiversity patterns. This is not a specific, funded project, but an ongoing research interest in the Macroevolution & Macroecology Group. There is plenty of scope to develop student (honours or higher degree) projects on this theme - please get in touch with Marcel if you are interested (marcel.cardillo@anu.edu.au). Visit our lab website for more details on the kinds of research we do.