Southeast Asian Biogeography Revisited: Alternative Mechanisms of Diversification and Dispersal
Event
CASUAL SEMINAR IN BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION
My research interests lie in determining how species diversity and distribution patterns have changed over time and what extrinsic processes and intrinsic phenomena have led to these changes. I use snakes as a model system to test hypotheses regarding speciation scenarios and investigate biodiversity patterns. While my research primarily relies on genomic data, I also incorporate environmental and morphological data for an integrative approach. My work primarily focuses on taxa from Southeast Asia, a region with continental and oceanic islands with complex geological histories shaped by tectonic events, sea level fluctuations, shifts in ocean currents, and paleoriver dynamics. By studying these taxonomic and geographic systems, I highlight how geological processes - such as tectonic shifts and paleoriver catchment events - and evolutionary phenomena, including introgression, coevolution, and selection, have shaped present-day faunal assemblages. This expansion will allow me to develop a broader comparative framework to address key questions in evolutionary biology.
July 21st, 2026
Justin Bernstein, American Museum of Natural History | 15h00 | Hybrid Seminar
CASUAL SEMINAR IN BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION
This presentation explores how geological and environmental processes shaped snake diversity in the Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA). Using molecular data (DNA), ecological niche modeling, and population demographic analyses, the research shows that many snake lineages diverged far earlier than expected under the traditional hypothesis that recent sea-level fluctuations drove diversification. Instead, processes such as land-bridge dispersal, overwater colonization, island formation, tectonic uplift, and paleoriver dynamics all contributed to diversification patterns in snakes. The work also highlights the role of environmental change and ecological niche shifts in shaping species distributions, offering a broader perspective on the origins of Southeast Asian biodiversity.
My research interests lie in determining how species diversity and distribution patterns have changed over time and what extrinsic processes and intrinsic phenomena have led to these changes. I use snakes as a model system to test hypotheses regarding speciation scenarios and investigate biodiversity patterns. While my research primarily relies on genomic data, I also incorporate environmental and morphological data for an integrative approach. My work primarily focuses on taxa from Southeast Asia, a region with continental and oceanic islands with complex geological histories shaped by tectonic events, sea level fluctuations, shifts in ocean currents, and paleoriver dynamics. By studying these taxonomic and geographic systems, I highlight how geological processes - such as tectonic shifts and paleoriver catchment events - and evolutionary phenomena, including introgression, coevolution, and selection, have shaped present-day faunal assemblages. This expansion will allow me to develop a broader comparative framework to address key questions in evolutionary biology.