Sushma Reddy
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Assistant Professor Ph.D. 2005, Columbia University New York Evolution of Birds Phone: 773.508.3675 Fax: 773.508.3646 E-mail: sreddy6@luc.edu |
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My main research interests are systematics, biogeography, and patterns of diversity. More specifically, my research to date includes issues related to the historical biogeography of southern Asia , molecular phylogenetics, ornithology, taxonomy, patterns of species distributions and diversity, quantitative methods for predicting species ranges, and conservation.My research deals with a broader aspect of avian evolution. I am involved in a NSF Assembling the Tree of Life project called Early Bird. The aim is to study the phylogenetic relationships of all modern birds using a novel approach of assembling a large, multi-locus, intron-heavy dataset of DNA sequences (20+ kb) as well as collaborating with several major institutions worldwide. Previous studies have had little success in resolving the basal relationships of birds. Except for the two well-supported basal splits of the Paleognathae (Ratites and Tinamous) and the Galloanserae (Chickens and Ducks) clades from the rest of birds, the remaining ordinal relationships are completely unresolved. The diversification of modern birds has been postulated to have occurred very rapidly, with the modern orders originating at similar times. A strategy of analyzing several genes of varying rates of evolution, as well as integrating morphological data sets, should provide a substantial number of characters to progress on the elusive issue of resolving the relationships of modern birds.
REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS
Hackett, S.J., R.T. Kimball, S. Reddy, R.C.K. Bowie, E.L. Braun, M.J. Braun, J.L. Chojnowski, W.A. Cox, K. Han, J. Harshman, C.J. Huddleston, B.D. Marks, K.J. Miglia, W.S. Moore, F.H. Sheldon, D.W. Steadman, C.C. Witt, T. Yuri. 2008. A phylogenomic study of birds reveals their evolutionary history. Science 320: 1763- 1768. (Full Text PDF)Reddy, S. 2008. Systematics and biogeography of the shrike-babblers (Pteruthius): species limits, molecular phylogenetics, and diversification patterns across southern Asia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 47: 54–72. (Full Text PDF)
Harshman J., E.L. Braun, M.J. Braun, C.J. Huddleston, R.C.K. Bowie, J.L. Chojnowski, S. Hackett, K-L. Han, R.T. Kimball, B.D. Marks, K.J. Miglia, W.A. Moore, S. Reddy, F.H. Sheldon, D.W. Steadman, S.J. Steppan, C. Witt, and T. Yuri. 2008. Phylogenomic evidence for multiple losses of flight in ratite birds. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 105: 13462-13467. (Full Text PDF)
Kimball, R.T., E.L. Braun, F.K. Barker, R.C.K. Bowie, M.J. Braun, J.L. Chojnowski, S.J. Hackett, K.-L Han, J. Harshman, V. Heimer-Torres, W. Holznagel, C.J. Huddleston, B.D. Marks, K.J. Miglia, W.S. Moore, S. Reddy, F.H. Sheldon, J.V. Smith, C.C. Witt, and T. Yuri. In Press. A well-tested set of primers to amplify regions spread across the avian genome. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
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