Leonel Herrera-Alsina

I am mostly interested in exploring the processes driving the changes in accumulation and spatial distribution of species over time. In particular I look at how phylogenetic trees inform us on those processes. To answer some of my research questions, I develop the necessary, computing tools. These approaches are based either on likelihood calculations or forward simulations. All realms of life are fascinating to me: my research interest includes birds, bats, palm trees, archeobacteria, butterflies, damselflies, amphipods, cichlids, and water beetles. I have a growing interest in building and programming electronics to collect data or tackle problems in our communities. I am currently working for Lesley T. Lancaster at the University of Aberdeen.
Ongoing projects
My academic path
I became seriously interested in wildlife at age 16 when I got my first hawk to train in the art of falconry. One year later, I joined a local club of birdwatchers, event that changed my life forever. During my undergrad years at Universidad Veracruzana (Mexico) I took every opportunity I could to go outdoors and learn about avian ecology. I worked as field technician at Instituto de Ecologia (INECOL) for a couple of years. Then, I started my master degree in biological sciences at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) as a member of Macroecology lab, under the supervision of Dr. Hector Arita Watanabe.

After that, I took a gap year to be completely devoted to falconry (although I managed to publish a couple of papers). In 2015 I moved to The Netherlands to start my PhD with Dr. Rampal Etienne. I had a terrific time during my PhD project, getting familiar to likelihood methods and simulation approaches. After graduating in 2019 I moved to Scotland to work with Dr. Justin Travis on the interface of ecology and evolution to tackle questions on biogeography.
Software
I develop R packages intended to answer questions on macroevolution. The R packages are available either at CRAN or at my Github.
SecSSE
Likelihood method to test for trait-dependent diversification
LEMAD
Biogeographic reconstruction in the light of lineage extinction
Courses
Models to unravel the drivers of evolutionary diversification

Taught in Indonesia March 2023.

We all know that speciation and species extinction have produced the current diversity of life on Earth. Quite unknown, however, is 1) the extent of fluctuations in the number of speciation and extinction events over time, and 2) the geographic context of it. Among the candidates to explain variation in speciation and extinction probabilities are temperature, time, ecological interactions, trait evolution and geological events.

Molecular phylogenetic trees certainly contain information about this, but we need to use the right tools to retrieve it. In this hands-on workshop, we will train students in the use of methods to test those hypotheses. Students will use simulated and real-world datasets to practise and be encouraged to use their own datasets to complete a short research project.

Phylogenetic comparative methods

Taught in Costa Rica 2021

In this course we provide the necessary background to carry out diversification analysis. It includes the handling of phylogenetic trees in R environment. Training objectives:

1) Have a solid theoretical basis on evolutionary patterns extracted from phylogenetic trees

2) Handle phylogenetic trees in R Studio. Learn how to fit and compare models of diversification

3) Code simulated datasets under different evolutionary scenarios.

4) Be able to reconstruct the evolutionary and biogeographic history of a clade

Opportunities
PhD position (closed on January 2024)

We look for a PhD student. Internationals are encouraged to apply:

Apply
Non-academic projects
Tools to address problems in society
Fighting illegal raptor trade: sexing birds of prey for law enforcement.

One of the main challenges that birds of prey face is the illegal trade. Thousands of individuals are taken every year from nature to then be sold in the black market. It is sometimes impossible to know whether a given individual comes from an unlawful source or is a legal bird (from a registered breeder) which is allowed to be kept in captivity. The situation is more complex because poachers use legit documentation issued to one individual bird to then be used for other, illegally captured, bird. In a way, poachers recycle documentation. Local law enforcement is often times inefficient as it does not possess tools to verify whether documentation matches a given bird. For instance, the sex of a bird is a key element stated in the documentation that cannot be easily determined in the field as there is not sexual dimorphism in raptors. Bird's age is a similar case. In this project and in close collaboration with the Wildlife Museum of Veracruz (Mexico), we are developing a statistical and morphological approach to create a sexing and aging tool to be used in the field. This tool comes in the form of an user-friendly software that can be used by anyone.

Helping blind people to move around by building low-cost sonar device.
Most sight impaired people manage to commute and travel by using a cane to find and avoid obstacles. While this is an efficient method to move around, obstacles placed above waist height are difficult to detect. Using electronic low-cost components, I have built a prototype which is intended to beep when an obstacle is detected on the user's way. I am in contact with an organization/charity which delivers sensory services locally to receive valuable feedback from potential users.
Students
Project: The origin and maintenance of plant floristic regions. Funded by The Anthony & Margaret Johnston Centre for Doctoral Training in Plant Sciences. University of Aberdeen
Tinu Adenegha
PhD student. Active. Co-supervised with Lesley T. Lancaster and Nicky Lustenhouwer
Project: diversification models to explain the elevational diversity gradient in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and adjacent areas. Sichuan University
Yixi Wang
PhD student. Active. Co-supervised with Xiaoting Xu
Project: State-dependent diversification in complex trait evolution. University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Annabel Belliard
Masters. Completed. Co-supervised with Rampal Etienne.
Project: Niche breadth, body size and extinction risk in bats. Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica.
Jorge Carballo
Undergrad. Completed. Co-supervised with Romeo Saldania and Federico Villalobos
Project: Relationship of basal metabolic rate with growth rate in offspring of the bat Myotis velifer. Universidad de Tlaxcala.
Jafet Morales
Masters. Active. Co-supervised with Jorge Ayala Berdón
Project: evolution of mating system and morphology of baculum in squirrels. Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica.
Valentina Abarca
Undergrad. Completed. Co-supervised with Federico Villalobos
Project: The origins and maintenance of plant diversity in tropical forests – a case study from the clove genus, Syzygium.
Max Fontaine
PhD student. Active. Co-supervised with David Burslem, Marcel Jaspars, Eve Lucas and Low Yee Wen
CONTACT
email: leonelhalsina@gmail.com
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