José Cerca
About
I am an evolutionary biologist, working under Mike Martin on the diversification and adaptive radiation of the Scalesia genus in Galapagos.
Before, I was a visiting scholar at the Berkeley Evolab in UC-Berkeley, under Rosemary Gillespie, and at the Frontiers of Evolutionary Zoology, University of Oslo, under Torsten H. Struck.
I combine genomic data (population genomics, phylogenomics, comparative genomics), together with ecological and phenotypic data from non-model organisms to understand how they evolve and adapt. During the last few years I have worked on adaptation (how species adapt), speciation (how species become different species), biogeography (how species move around and are distributed), and parallel and convergent evolution (how different species adapt to similar problems) - focusing on Island biota. Considering global climatic changes, as well as elevated rates of species extinction, there is an urgent need for understanding how species adapt, diversify, move around and respond to changing environments.
Publications
2020
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Cerca De Oliveira, Josè;
Meyer, Christian;
Stateczny, Dave;
Siemon, Dominik;
Wegbrod, Jana;
Purschke, Günter.
(2020)
Deceleration of morphological evolution in a cryptic species complex and its link to paleontological stasis.
Evolution
Academic article
2018
-
Struck, Torsten H;
Feder, Jeffrey L.;
Bendiksby, Mika;
Birkeland, Siri;
Cerca De Oliveira, Josè;
Gusarov, Vladimir.
(2018)
Cryptic Species – More Than Terminological Chaos: A Reply to Heethoff.
Trends in Ecology & Evolution
Letter to the editor
Journal publications
-
Cerca De Oliveira, Josè;
Meyer, Christian;
Stateczny, Dave;
Siemon, Dominik;
Wegbrod, Jana;
Purschke, Günter.
(2020)
Deceleration of morphological evolution in a cryptic species complex and its link to paleontological stasis.
Evolution
Academic article
-
Struck, Torsten H;
Feder, Jeffrey L.;
Bendiksby, Mika;
Birkeland, Siri;
Cerca De Oliveira, Josè;
Gusarov, Vladimir.
(2018)
Cryptic Species – More Than Terminological Chaos: A Reply to Heethoff.
Trends in Ecology & Evolution
Letter to the editor