Castresana Lab
Animal Phylogeny and Systematics Program 		Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF)
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Jose Castresana

Research Scientist at Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF)
Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37
08003 Barcelona, Spain

Tel: +34 932309642 / Fax: +34 932211011
Email: jose.castresana [at] ibe.upf-csic.es


Research Interests: Phylogeny and Phylogeography of Mammals

Our main goal is the application of phylogenetic analyses to study animal biodiversity and its evolution, with an emphasis on mammals. We are particularly interested in the study of global diversification patterns and in the factors that affect the net generation of species. We are also interested in the interphase between phylogenetics and population genetics, which may shed light on the analysis of speciation. In particular, we are conducting different studies to unravel how speciation occurred in small mammals through the signals that speciation processes have left in the genome. Finally, since phylogenies are one of the main tools of our work, we are always trying to improve phylogenetic analyses by introducing new methodologies and programs. Current research topics include:
  • Phylogeny, genetic diversity, and speciation of mammals studied with multiple markers
  • Methodological aspects of phylogenetic reconstruction: gene trees and species trees
  • Analysis of species diversification in mammals


Selected Publications
  • Sánchez-Gracia, A., and Castresana, J. (2012). Impact of deep coalescence on the reliability of species tree inference from different types of DNA markers in mammals. PLoS ONE 7, e30239.
    [article] [pdf]
  • Soria-Carrasco, V., and Castresana, J. (2011). Patterns of mammalian diversification in recent evolutionary times: global tendencies and methodological issues. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 24, 2611-2623.
    [abstract]
  • Igea, J., Juste, J., and Castresana, J. (2010). Novel intron markers to study the phylogeny of closely related mammalian species. BMC Evolutionary Biology 10, 369.
    [abstract] [pdf]
  • Soria-Carrasco, V., and Castresana, J. (2008). Estimation of phylogenetic inconsistencies in the three domains of life. Molecular Biology and Evolution 25, 2319-2329.
    [abstract] [pdf]
  • Talavera, G., and Castresana, J. (2007). Improvement of phylogenies after removing divergent and ambiguously aligned blocks from protein sequence alignments. Systematic Biology 56, 564-577.
    [abstract] [pdf]


Positions Available

Students with interest in doing a Master Thesis, Ph.D. Thesis or postdoctoral work in my research group are always welcome to contact me. If you would like to work with us, send me an e-mail me describing your interests and experience. We work on a broad variety of topics and species and use many different techniques, from bioinformatics and molecular genetics to field work, so there are many opportunities to study interesting questions and to acquire useful skills in the fields of evolutionary biology and biodiversity research.
IBE
 Instituto de Biología Evolutiva
(CSIC-UPF)
 Institut de Biologia Evolutiva
(CSIC-UPF)
 Institute of Evolutionary Biology
(CSIC-UPF)
http://molevol.cmima.csic.es/castresana/
Last update: February 2012