Joseph Manthey, Ph.D.

Research Interests:

We utilize a combination of fieldwork, ecological data, genomics, and bioinformatics to study how organisms evolve across both geographic and genomic landscapes. Our research focuses on evolutionary, biodiversity, and landscape genomics.

Evolutionary Genomics
Our goal is to better understand how and why species' genomes change through evolutionary time. We are using genome, methylome, and transcriptome data to look at evolutionary genomics questions, and largely focus on birds because of the plethora of data available about their natural histories, as well as ever-expanding genomic resources. 

Current Projects:
-Transposable element evolution in several groups of birds.
-Population genomics of diversification in several North American bird species. 

Biodiversity and Landscape Genomics in Sky Islands
We are studying patterns of diversification in high-elevation species at various spatial and temporal scales in two sky island systems: the Ethiopian Highlands and the Madrean Sky Islands of the southwestern USA and northwestern Mexico. Our goal with these projects is to understand how fragmented habitats (natural or human-caused) impact evolution of natural populations.

Current Projects:
- Hierarchical landscape genomics of sky island species (birds and invertebrates) and their symbionts in the Madrean sky islands.
- Biodiversity genomics and landscape genomics of birds in the Ethiopian highlands.

Selected Publications:

Manthey JD, Reyes-Velasco J, Freilich X & Boissinot S. 2017. Diversification in a biodiversity hotspot: genomic variation in the river frog Amietia nutti across the Ethiopian Highlands. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 122: 801-813. 

Manthey JD, Campillo LC, Burns KJ & Moyle RG. 2016. Comparison of target capture and restriction-site associated DNA sequencing for phylogenomics: a test in cardinalid tanagers (Aves, Genus Piranga). Systematic Biology 65: 640-650. 

Manthey JD & Moyle RG. 2015. Isolation by environment in White-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis) of the Madrean Archipelago sky islands: a landscape genomics approach. Molecular Ecology 24: 3628-3638. 

Manthey JD, Klicka J, & Spellman GM. 2015. Chromosomal patterns of diversity and differentiation in creepers: a next-gen phylogeographic investigation of Certhia americana. Heredity 115: 165-172.