We are interested in big-picture questions about biodiversity. Some of these questions address theoretical issues: Why are there so many species in the tropics? How have places like southwest Australia become biodiversity hotspots? How easily can lineages evolve into new environments?

We are also interested in questions with a contemporary conservation focus. Why are some species more threatened with extinction than others? Can we look "over the horizon" to predict species declines that haven't yet begun? Which species and regions will be most severely affected by global environmental change?

To tackle questions like these we use big datasets for plants and animals, and a range of computational tools for analyzing geographic and phylogenetic data. Often, the most fun part is not getting an answer, but getting the question right: thinking about the basic scientific logic of a question about biodiversity, and devising an elegant and creative way of reaching an answer.

We always like welcoming new students, postdocs and visitors, so please get in touch if you are interested in macroevolution, macroecology, biogeography or conservation, and would like to join the lab. We are part of the broader Macroevolution & Macroecology group - you can find out more about what we work on and what we have published at www.macroevoeco.com.