John Wiens

John J. Wiens studies evolution, ecology, and phylogenetics, primarily using reptiles and amphibians as model systems. He is particularly interested in using phylogenies to address broad questions in ecology and evolution (such as the origin of global species richness patterns) and in phylogenetic theory and methods. He received his Bachelors Degree at the University of Kansas in 1991, where he studied Neotropical amphibians and lizards. He received his Ph.D. in 1995 from the University of Texas at Austin, where he primarily studied phylogenetic theory and the systematics and evolution of lizards with David Cannatella and David Hillis. From 1995 to 2002, he was a curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. Since 2003, he has been a professor at the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University in New York. He has published near 200 papers and has served on the editorial boards of many journals in evolution, ecology, systematics, and herpetology, including the American Naturalist, Ecology Letters, Evolution, Systematic Biology, and the Quarterly Review of Biology.

Positions and Education: 

Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 2013–present
Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, 2006–2012
Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, 2002–2006
Associate Curator, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 2000–2002
Assistant Curator, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1995–2000
Ph.D., Zoology, University of Texas at Austin, 1995
B.S., Systematics and Ecology, University of Kansas, 1991 (summa cum laude)

Honors and Awards: 

ISI Highly Cited Researcher, 2014
President’s Award, American Society of Naturalists, 2011 (for outstanding paper published in the American Naturalist in 2010) for Kozak and Wiens 2010
BIOS Distinguished Lecturer, Univ. Nevada-Las Vegas, 2009
Kirschner Lecture, Department of Zoology, Washington State University, 2008
Elected to Council, Society of Systematic Biologists (2003–2005)
Elected to Board of Governors, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (2003-2008)
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship 1991
Outstanding Senior Honors Thesis in Biology, Univ. Kansas, 1991

Editorial Work: 

Editor-in-Chief, Quarterly Review of Biology,  2007–2010
Editor, Quarterly Review of Biology,  2006–2007, 2010–present
Associate Editor, Ecology Letters, 2009–present
Associate Editor, BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2011–present
Associate Editor, Ecography, 2007–2009
Associate Editor, American Naturalist, 2005–2009
Associate Editor, Evolution, 2001–2003
Associate Editor, Systematic Biology, 1996–2000
Associate Editor, Herpetologica, 1996–2000
Editorial Board, PLoS Currents: Tree of Life, 2010–present
Editorial Board, Journal of Herpetology, 2001–present
Editorial Board, Copeia, 1999–2008 
Editorial Board, Systematic Biology, 1995–1996

Research Interests: 

Research in Wiens’ lab has three main areas: (1) using an integrative phylogenetic approach to address general conceptual questions in evolutionary biology and ecology, (2) the theory and methods of phylogenetics, and (3) the phylogeny, evolution, and ecology of reptiles and amphibians. Within these general areas, we address a variety of specific topics, including species richness patterns, speciation, niche evolution and conservatism, life-history evolution, adaptive radiation, ecological diversification, rates and patterns of morphological change, phylogenomics, and responses of species to climate change. We combine collection and analysis of genetic, morphological, ecological, and physiological data (in the lab and field) with bioinformatic, computational, and theoretical approaches.

Selected Publications: 

Wiens, J. J. 2016. Climate-related local extinctions are already widespread among plant and animal species. PLoS Biology 14:e2001104.
Streicher, J. W., J. A. Schulte, and J. J. Wiens. 2016. How should genes and taxa be sampled for phylogenomic analyses with missing data? An empirical study in iguanian lizards. Systematic Biology65:128–145.
Wiens, J. J., R. T. Lapoint, and N. K. Whiteman. 2015. Herbivory increases diversification across insect clades. Nature Communications 6:8370.  
Wiens, J. J. 2015. Faster diversification on land than sea helps explain global biodiversity patterns among habitats and animal phyla. Ecology Letters 18:1234–1241.
Wiens, J. J. 2015. Explaining large-scale patterns of vertebrate diversity. Biology Letters11:20150506.