BRS Rosemary Gillespie: Molecular Ecology Prize "Island Time: A Chronology of Biodiversity Assembly Across Scales"

Shareable link: https://ubc.zoom.us/rec/share/55FCAguKMLf6Lm_CZiE5F7eqy_849QsVdLAjFeeoG8uK4l3YUBeluKshkZo-rbhe.5XOLJ16VFdwwjC_g

Passcode: 90@ctAya 

host: Loren Rieseberg

Title talk: Island Time: A Chronology of Biodiversity Assembly Across Scales 

Abstract: Rosemary Gillespie, University of California Berkeley

Species diversity arises on a dynamic template, and a major goal is to understand the relationship between evolutionary change in the context of the shifting biotic and abiotic environment. The growth of the field of molecular ecology has provided tools for linking ecological and evolutionary perspectives; yet we still know little about how processes that affect local and short-term dynamics play out spatially across entire regional assemblages and/or temporally across evolutionary time scales. My work focuses explicitly on long-term biodiversity dynamics using the Hawaiian Islands, which provide a real-time laboratory for understanding the assembly of species diversity across evolutionary time. I will discuss how this chronosequence has been used to infer the mechanisms that underpin adaptive radiation across multiple lineages that have undergone adaptive radiation in the islands. I will then introduce an approach to understand how entire communities change over extended evolutionary time using high throughput DNA sequencing of arthropod communities across islands of different age, and measuring relative abundance, diversity, and interactions between entire arthropod communities, controlling for elevation, precipitation, and forest type. The results show regular patterns of change in diversity, specialization, and resilience to biological invasion, across the island chronosequence.  Current work focuses on connecting these ground-based signatures with imagery from drones, helicopters, and satellites to build insights into how eco-evolutionary processes translate into ecosystem signatures.

Molecular Ecology Prize: The Molecular Ecology Prize Committee is pleased to announce that the 2025 Molecular Ecology Prize has been awarded to Dr. Rosemary G. Gillespie, who is an evolutionary biologist and professor of Environmental Science at the University of California, Berkeley.  Professor Gillespie has profoundly shaped the field of molecular ecology through her pioneering research, visionary leadership, and dedicated mentorship. Her interdisciplinary work bridges evolutionary biology, island biogeography, community ecology, and molecular genetics, addressing fundamental questions about biodiversity and adaptation. She has illuminated key mechanisms of species diversification and ecological community assembly, particularly in arthropods. Her seminal 2004 Science paper on Hawaiian spiders used molecular phylogenetics to demonstrate that adaptive radiation can structure ecological communities through in situ diversification—an influential contribution that now stands as a cornerstone of community and evolutionary ecology. Through decades of work in the Hawaiian archipelago, Dr. Gillespie’s research has set a benchmark for applying molecular tools to unravel complex ecological and evolutionary processes. Beyond her scholarship, she has been a dedicated leader and advocate for the molecular ecology community, notably through her long-standing editorial service to the journal Molecular Ecology.