EEB Thursday Seminar Series - The Ties That Bind: Evolutionary linkages between hosts, viruses, and genomes

Seminar Summary - Many evolutionary processes are linked, such that patterns in one unit inform patterns in the other. Identifying and understanding those linkages across biological scales is essential for predicting patterns of biodiversity, disease, and evolution, among other variables. Here, I integrate phylogenetic, ecological, and genomic approaches to examine linked evolution of mammals, viruses, and genomes. Specifically, I will (1) assess the phylogenetic distribution of virus diversity across the Class Mammalia, relative to host species richness; (2) integrate host-virus suitability landscapes to gauge multi-annual level of risk for Choclo hantavirus and its rodent host (Oligoryzomys); and (3) test how mito-nuclear linkages shape hybrid dynamics in red-backed voles (Clethrionomys). Collectively, these analyses demonstrate that evolutionary patterns in hosts, viruses, and genomes are tightly coupled, such that processes operating across deep phylogeny, geographic space, and within-species genomic architecture mutually inform one another.