Rowan J. Schley

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• PhD
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Exeter

The flora of the Neotropics is unmatched in its diversity, however the mechanisms by which diversity has accumulated are debated and largely unclear. The Brownea clade (Leguminosae) is a characteristic component of the Neotropical flora, and the species within it are diverse in their floral morphology, attracting a wide variety of pollinators. This...

Hybridisation has the potential to generate or homogenize biodiversity and is a particularly common phenomenon in plants, with an estimated 25% of plant species undergoing inter‐specific gene flow. However, hybridisation in Amazonia’s megadiverse tree flora was assumed to be extremely rare despite extensive sympatry between closely related species,...

Hybridisation can facilitate both evolutionary diversification and extinction and has had a critical role in plant evolution, with~ 25% of species known to hybridise in some temperate floras. However, in the species-rich neotropical flora, hybridisation’s role in the evolution of diversity remains unclear. Our review examines studies of hybridisati...

Genome size varies 2400‐fold across plants, influencing their evolution through changes in cell size and cell division rates which impact plants' environmental stress tolerance. Repetitive element expansion explains much genome size diversity, and the processes structuring repeat ‘communities’ are analogous to those structuring ecological communiti...

Evolutionary radiations underlie much of the species diversity of life on Earth, particularly within the world’s most species-rich tree flora – that of the Amazon rainforest. Hybridisation occurs in many radiations, with effects ranging from homogenisation of divergent species to the generation of genetic and phenotypic novelty that fuels speciatio...

Distributed across two continents and thousands of islands, the Asian tropics are among the most species-rich areas on Earth. The origins of this diversity, however, remain poorly understood. Here, we reveal and classify contributions of individual tropical Asian regions to their overall diversity by leveraging species-level phylogenomic data and n...

Understanding the processes that drive phenotypic diversification and underpin speciation is key to elucidating how biodiversity has evolved. Although these processes have been studied across a wide array of clades, adaptive radiations (ARs), which are systems with multiple closely related species and broad phenotypic diversity, have been particula...

Reliable species delimitation is fundamental for establishing clear and equitable guidelines on the sustainable harvest of economically important organisms. Pterocarpus (Fabaceae) is a pantropical tree genus including several highly valuable timber-producing species, that face significant threats from intensive logging. However, a lack of taxonomic...

We present a genome assembly from an individual of Inga leiocalycina (Streptophyta; Magnoliopsida; Fabales; Fabaceae). The genome sequence has a total length of 948.00 megabases. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 13 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The assembled mitochondrial genome sequences have lengths of 1,019.42 and 98.74 kilobases, and the...

We present a genome assembly from an individual of Inga oerstediana (Streptophyta; Magnoliopsida; Fabales; Fabaceae). The genome sequence has a total length of 970.60 megabases. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 13 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial and plastid genome assemblies have lengths of 1,166.81 and 175.18 kilobases, respe...

We present a genome assembly from an individual of Inga laurina (Streptophyta; Magnoliopsida; Fabales; Fabaceae). The genome sequence has a total length of 899.60 megabases. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 13 chromosomal pseudomolecules, supporting the individual being an autotetraploid with 2 n =4 x =52. The mitochondrial and plastid genom...

Transposable elements (TEs) have been hypothesized to play a pivotal role in driving diversification by facilitating the emergence of novel phenotypes and the accumulation of divergence between species. The rapid speciation and ecological diversification characteristic of adaptive radiations offer a unique opportunity to examine the link between TE...

The tropics are renowned for extraordinary species richness across the marine and terrestrial realms, holding more than three quarters of all species [1]. Within the tropics, certain ‘hyperdiverse’ regions host truly exceptional numbers of species at the local community level. For example, a single hectare (100m x 100m) of coral reef in the Indo-Pa...

Angiosperms are the cornerstone of most terrestrial ecosystems and human livelihoods1,2. A robust understanding of angiosperm evolution is required to explain their rise to ecological dominance. So far, the angiosperm tree of life has been determined primarily by means of analyses of the plastid genome3,4. Many studies have drawn on this foundation...

Evolutionary radiations underlie much of the species diversity of life on Earth, particularly within the world’s most species-rich tree flora – that of the Amazon rainforest. Hybridisation catalyses many radiations by generating genetic and phenotypic novelty that promote rapid speciation, but the influence of hybridisation on Amazonian tree radiat...

We present a genome assembly from an individual Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven; Streptophyta; Magnoliopsida; Sapindales; Simaroubaceae). The genome sequence is 939 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 31 chromosomal pseudomolecules. The mitochondrial and plastid genome assemblies are 661.1 kilobases and 161.1 kilobases lo...

Aim Phenotypes promoting dispersal over ecological timescales may have macroevolutionary consequences, such as long‐distance dispersal and diversification. However, whether dispersal traits explain the distribution of pantropical plant groups remains unclear. Here we reconstruct the biogeographical history of a tree clade to assess whether seed dis...

Supporting Information 1. A list of all reviewed hybridisation studies based in the Neotropics.

Genome size varies 2,400-fold across plants, influencing their evolution through changes in cell size and cell division rates which impact plants’ environmental stress tolerance. Repetitive element expansion explains much genome size diversity, and the processes structuring repeat ‘communities’ are analogous to those structuring ecological communit...

Premise: The inference of evolutionary relationships in the species-rich family Orchidaceae has hitherto relied heavily on plastid DNA sequences and limited taxon sampling. Previous studies have provided a robust plastid phylogenetic framework, which was used to classify orchids and investigate the drivers of orchid diversification. However, the e...

The date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, has been a cornerstone of Middle Eastern and North African agriculture for millennia. It was first domesticated in the Persian Gulf, and its evolution appears to have been influenced by gene flow from two wild relatives, P. theophrasti, currently restricted to Crete and Turkey, and P. sylvestris, widespread from...

Aim Phenotypes which evolved for dispersal over ecological timescales may lead to significant macroevolutionary consequences, such as infrequent long-distance dispersal and diversification in novel environments. We aimed to reconstruct the phylogenetic history of Pterocarpus (Leguminosae/ Fabaceae) to assess whether seed dispersal phenotypes help t...

Well-supported phylogenies are a prerequisite for the study of the evolution and diversity of life on earth. The subfamily Calamoideae accounts for more than one fifth of the palm family (Arecaceae), occurs in tropical rainforests across the world, and supports a billion-dollar industry in rattan products. It contains ca. 550 species in 17 genera,...

The date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera ) has been a cornerstone of Middle Eastern and North African agriculture for millennia. It is presumed that date palms were first domesticated in the Persian Gulf and subsequently introduced into North Africa, where their evolution in the latter region appears to have been influenced by gene flow from the wild re...

Premise of the study Evolutionary relationships in the species-rich Orchidaceae have historically relied on organellar DNA sequences and limited taxon sampling. Previous studies provided a robust plastid-maternal phylogenetic framework, from which multiple hypotheses on the drivers of orchid diversification have been derived. However, the extent to...

Dalbergia odorifera T. C. Chen (Leguminosae), a rare and endangered tree species endemic to Hainan Island of China, produces the most expensive and rarest wood in China. The wood characteristics of D. odorifera are remarkably similar to those of D. tonkinensis (a much less sought‐after species from Vietnam), and the DNA from wood are often highly d...

This pre-print is currently under consideration at Molecular Ecology. Hybridization has the potential to generate or homogenize biodiversity and is a particularly common phenomenon in plants, with an estimated 25% of species undergoing inter-specific gene flow. However, hybridization in Amazonia’s megadiverse tree flora was assumed to be extremely...

Poor morphological and molecular differentiation in recently diversified lineages is a widespread phenomenon in plants. Phylogenetic relationships within such species complexes are often difficult to resolve because of the low variability in traditional molecular loci. Furthermore, biological phenomena responsible for topological incongruence such...

Poster presented at Evolution 2019 (Providence, Rhode Island, USA).

Poor morphological and molecular differentiation in recently diversified lineages is a widespread phenomenon in plants. Phylogenetic relationships within such species complexes are often difficult to resolve because of the low variability in traditional molecular loci, as well as various other biological phenomena responsible for topological incong...

Poor morphological and molecular differentiation in recently diversified lineages is a widespread phenomenon in plants. Phylogenetic relationships within such species complexes are often difficult to resolve because of the low variability in traditional molecular loci, as well as various other biological phenomena responsible for topological incong...

Australia harbours a rich and highly endemic orchid flora, with c. 90 % of species endemic to the country. Despite that, the biogeographic history of Australasian orchid lineages is only poorly understood. Here we examined evolutionary relationships and the spatio-temporal evolution of the sun orchids (Thelymitra, 119 species), which display disjun...

Premise of research. The Neotropical endemic Macrolobium is one of the most species-rich genera (ca. 75 species) within subfamily Detarioideae (Fabaceae, alternatively Leguminosae). Two sections distinguished by floral morphology have been recognized in the past. Although morphologically diverse, species within the genus share several characters, i...

First-prize winning poster, which was presented at Imperial College London Life Sciences PhD poster session. This poster details the work undertaken for the first section of this PhD project, investigating the phylogenetic relationships, pace of evolution over time and biogeographical history of the Brownea clade.