Kevin Surya (Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, MSU)

9/19/2024  3:10pm

Abstract: 

Do evolutionary changes accumulate gradually over hundreds of millions of years like a ticking clock, or do they occur in episodic bursts during speciation events (i.e., the splitting of new populations from an ancestral population)? This is one of the most controversial questions in evolutionary biology. A previous study developed a statistical model to answer this question and estimated that only about 16% of genetic evolution in animals, plants, and fungi is attributable to speciation. However, the effect of taxonomic sampling on the model has not been studied. Due to pervasive extinction and data collection biases, much of the information required to reconstruct evolutionary patterns is inaccessible. Using simulations, we found interesting results (which I will share in the talk) that suggest we need to rethink how large-scale evolution unfolds.