Macroevolution and Macroecology Group
Australian National University

Our Research

We are a research group spread across several schools at ANU, united by our interest in evolutionary and ecological processes underlying biological, linguistic and cultural diversity, and the conservation of biodiversity. Our research covers a wide range of questions, taxonomic groups and spatial scales. Our research themes include: 
  • patterns and processes of molecular evolution
  • evolution of languages and linguistic diversity
  • phylogenetics, macroevolution and biogeography
  • extinction risk and conservation prioritization

Our Textbooks

Latest Publications

Norris E., Scheele B., Cardillo M. (in press) Assessing land tenure contributions for protected area growth under alternative conservation targets using the case study of the Australian Monsoonal Tropics. Conservation Biology

Richard P. Duncan, Ben C. Scheele, and Simon Clulow, (in press) Thermal mismatch models derived from occurrence data predict pathogen prevalence in frogs. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Alexander Skeels, Hervé Sauquet, Austin Mast, Peter H. Weston, Peter M. Olde, Gregory J. Jordan, Raymond J. Carpenter, Jéssica Fenker, Zoe K.M. Reynolds, Alan R. Lemmon, Emily Moriarty Lemmon, Fritz Pichardo Marcano, Marcel Cardillo (in press) Paleo-biome dynamics shaped a large Gondwanan plant radiation Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Zili Yuan, Gengchen Yang, Wenna Ding, Philipp Brun, Alexander Skeels, Loïc Pellissier and Niklaus E. Zimmermann. 2025. The geography of connectivity shapes plant endemism hotspots. Ecography. e07514. doi:10.1002/ecog.07514

Schembri R, Bromham L, Moritz C, Hua X (2025) Comparing rates of molecular and morphological evolution identifies multiple speciation trajectories in a diverse radiation of skinks, Evolution, qpaf033, https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpaf033

L. Bromham, K. Yaxley, O. Wilson, & X. Hua (2025) Macroevolutionary analysis of polysynthesis shows that language complexity is more likely to evolve in small, isolated populations. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (24) e2504483122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2504483122
We are affiliated with the ANU/CSIRO Centre for Biodiversity Analysis and the Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative