Functional and Phylogenetic Ecology in R (Use R!)

The author is a tropical plant field biologist by training with a research focus on using phylogenetic and functional information to understand the distribution and dynamics of biodiversity through space and time. He received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2008 at the University of Arizona and was a NSF postdoctoral fellow in bioinformatics with the Center for Tropical Forest Science then located at the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. His career over the past decade has coincided with the rapid boom in phylogenetic- and functional trait-based analyses of ecological datasets. In recognition of his work integrating phylogenetic and functional trait information across scales, he has received the 2011 Jasper Loftus-Hills Young Investigator’s Award from the American Society of Naturalists and the 2012 Ebbe Nielsen Prize from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Being recognized as a leader in his field has lead to the author providing R analytical workshops in places such China, Costa Rica and Taiwan. Designing and implementing these workshops naturally lead to the development and refinement of this volume.