UBC Math Bio Seminar: Ailene MacPherson

A fundamental aim of evolutionary biology is to describe and explain biodiversity patterns; this aim centers around questions of how many "species" exist, where they are most/least abundant, how this distribution is changing over time, and why. Practically speaking, deciphering biodiversity trends and understanding their underlying ecological and evolutionary drivers is important for monitoring and managing both the biodiversity crisis and emergent epidemics. In this seminar I will discuss 100 years of biodiversity mathematics, beginning with Yule's 1924 foundational work on the model that now bears his name. Despite the twists and turns of the intervening years, I will then introduce recent work in my group with direct connections to Yule's. Throughout, I will highlight the importance of using math and models to clarify biological thinking and will argue that a fully interdisciplinary approach that integrates math, biology, and statistics is necessary to understand biodiversity, be it at the macroevolutionary or epidemiological scale.