W. Bryan Jennings
General Information
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics
Molecular phylogenetics, population genetics, and biogeography especially of birds and lizards.
Phone: (707) 826-4167
Office: Science B 234
Email: bjennings@humboldt.edu
Personal Website: http://www.humboldt.edu/~wj3/
Academic background
- BA University of California, Santa Barbara
- MS University of Texas at Arlington
- PhD University of Texas at Austin
Courses
- Genetics Lab
- Genetics Lab Molecular Biology, Genomics, and Biotechnology (Fall)
- Molecular Biology, Genomics, and Biotechnology Lab (Fall)
- Bioinformatics (new course offered Spring 2008!)
- Bioinformatics Lab (new course offered Spring 2008!)
Summary of research
My research takes an integrative approach to understanding the ecological and evolutionary basis of species radiations. By integrating ecological, phylogenetic, population genetic, and genomic approaches, I study extant populations to understand the timing, tempo, and mode of biodiversification. My research program focuses on diversification of birds and non-avian reptiles at multiple hierarchical levels. One study, which focused on Australian lizard diversity, used comparative methods to analyze speciation rates and historical biogeography of a major lizard clade. Another recent study was concerned with performing a microevolutionary study of Australian bird diversity exploiting new population genetic (coalescent) techniques to obtain improved estimates of phylogeny, speciation times, and ancestral effective population sizes. I also have general interests in ornithology, herpetology, and the conservation biology of desert tortoises.
Sample publications
- Jennings, W. B. and S. V. Edwards. 2005. Speciational history of Australian grass finches (Poephila) inferred from thirty gene trees. Evolution 59:2033-2047.
- Edwards, S. V., S. B. Kingan, J. D. Calkins, C. N. Balakrishnan, W. B. Jennings, W. J. Swanson, and M. D. Sorenson. 2005. Speciation in birds: genes, geography, and sexual selection. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences 102:6550-6557.
- Edwards, S. V., W. B. Jennings, and A. Shedlock. 2005. Phylogenetics of modern birds in the era of genomics. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 272: 979-992.
- Jennings, W. B. and Eric R. Pianka. 2004. Tempo and timing of the Australian Varanus radiation. In E. R. Pianka and D. R. King (Eds.), Varanoid Lizards of the World. Indiana University Press.
- Jennings, W. B., E. R. Pianka, and S. Donnellan. 2003. Systematics of lizards in the family Pygopodidae with implications for the diversification of Australian temperate biotas. Systematic Biology 52:757-780.
- Jennings, W. B. 2002. Diet selection by the desert tortoise in relation to the flowering phenology of ephemeral plants. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 4(2):353-358.
- Jennings, W. B. 2001. Comparative flowering phenology of plants in the western Mojave Desert. Madroņo 48:162-171.
Graduate students
Sean Reilly
Andrew Gottscho