Lindell Bromham

Lindell Bromham (lindell.bromham@anu.edu.au) leads the Evolutionary Phyloinfomatics research group in the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University

Current Research Group

Past members

Research

    I am interested in how we can test ideas about macroevolutionary patterns and mechanisms. In particular, I have looked at the way that phylogenies, especially those constructed from DNA sequence data, can be used to understand evolutionary past and processes. But in order to use molecular data to understand evolution, we need to understand how evolutionary information is recorded in the genome. So much of my research has focussed on how patterns and rates of molecular evolution are influenced by species characteristics, environment, and macroevolutionary processes.
    Current research funding includes:
    Exploring evolvability: its causes, consequences and practical applications in a changing environment (Bromham: ARC future fellowship FT0992193)
    Evolution of halophytes: a phyloinformatic approach to understanding and exploiting the traits underlying salt-tolerance in plants (Bromham, Cantrill, Murphy, Flowers, Dillon, Crayn: ARC Linkage LP100100143)
    Phyloinformatics and biodiversity: developing bioinformatic tools for understanding the dynamics of extinction and invasion within species assemblages (Bromham: ARC discovery DP0880502)
    Revealing the processes, causes and correlates of molecular evolutionary rates of mammals (Rambaut, Bromham, Welch: BBSRC BB/D017750/1)
    General mechanisms underlying transitions in complexity: An interdisciplinary approach (Sterelny, Bromham, Calcott: Templeton)

Teaching

    Reading the Story in DNA: a beginner’s guide to molecular evolution (2008) aims to provide an introduction to the use of DNA sequence data to answer questions in evolution and ecology. DNA analysis is now ubiquitous in the biological sciences, so biologists from all backgrounds need to be able to interpret the story written in the genome. This book aims to provide a friendly introduction to DNA sequence data, illustrated throughout with biological examples (and no equations). You can find sample pages on Amazon.

Recent Publications

For a full list of publications see ResearcherID

Thomas JA, Welch JJ, Lanfear R, Bromham L (2010) A generation time effect on the rate of molecular evolution in invertebrates. Molecular Biology and Evolution doi: 10.1093/molbev/msq009 PDF

Bromham L (2009) Darwin would have loved DNA. Biology Letters 5:503-505 PDF

Bromham L (2009) Putting the “bio” into bioinformatics. Biology Letters 5:391-393. PDF

Bromham L (2009) Why do species vary in their rate of molecular evolution? Biology Letters 5:401-404 PDF

Bromham L (2009) Does nothing in evolution make sense except in the light of population genetics? BIology & Philosophy. 24:387-403 PDF

Bromham L (2008) Reading the story in DNA: a beginner’s guide to molecular evolution. Oxford University Press. WEBSITE.

Lanfear R, Bromham L. (2008) Statistical Tests Between Competing Hypotheses of Hox Cluster Evolution. Systematic Biology 57(5):1-11 pdf Supplementary Info

Bromham L (2008) Teaching evolutionary biology in schools to foster active learning. School Science Review 90:57-63 bromhamactivelearningssr08.pdf

Bromham L (2008) Molecular Evolution: Rates. In: Encylopedia of Life Sciences. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester http://www.els.net/ [DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001802.pub2]. PDF

Bromham L (2008) Molecular Evolution: Patterns and Rates. In: Encylopedia of Life Sciences. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester http://www.els.net/ [DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001799.pub3] PDF

Welch JJ, Bininda-Emonds ORP, Bromham L (2008) Correlates of substitution rate variation in mammalian protein-coding sequences. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8:53. PDF

Lanfear R, Thomas J, Welch J, Brey T, Bromham L (2007) Metabolic Rate Does Not Calibrate the Molecular Clock Proc. natl. Acad Sci USA 104 (39): 15388-15393 PDF

Fontanillas E, Welch J, Thomas J, Bromham L (2007) The influence of body size and net diversification rate on molecular evolution during the radiation of animal phyla. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7:95 PDF

Bromham L, Cardillo M (2006) Primates follow the “Island Rule”: implications for interpreting Homo floresiensis. Biology Letters Biology Letters 3: 398-400 >PDFSuppl. Info

Thomas JA, Welch JJ, Woolfit M, Bromham L (2006). There is no universal molecular clock for invertebrates, but rate variation does not scale with body size. Proc. natl. Acad Sci USA 103 (19): 7366-7371 PDF

Bromham L, Oprandi P. (2006) Evolution online: developing active and blended learning by using a virtual learning environment in an introductory biology course. Journal of Biological Education 41(1):21-25 PDF

Bromham L (2006) Molecular dates for the Cambrian Explosion: is the light at the end of the tunnel an oncoming train? Palaeontologia Electronica 9(1):2E. PDF

Welch JJ, Bromham L. (2005) Molecular dating when rates vary. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20(6): 320-327. PDF

Bromham L, Leys, R. (2005) Sociality, population size and rate of molecular evolution. Mol. Biol. Evol 22(6):1393–1402. PDF

Welch JJ, Fontanillas E, Bromham L. (2005) Molecular dates for the “Cambrian Explosion”: the influence of prior assumptions. Syst Biol 54(4):13–19 PDF

Wanninger A, Koop D, Bromham L, Noonan E, Degnan BM (2005) Nervous and muscle system development in Phascolion strombus (Sipuncula). Dev Genes Evol 215(10):509-518. PDF

Woolfit M, Bromham L. (2005) Population size and the rate of molecular evolution on islands. Proc Roy Soc Lond B 272(1578):2277-82. PDF

Bromham L, Woolfit M (2004) Explosive radiations and the reliability of molecular clocks: island endemic radiations as a test case. Syst Biol 53(5): 758 - 766. PDF

Burrows JM, Bromham L (joint first authors), M Woolfit, G Piganeau, J Tellam, G Connolly, N Webb, L Poulsen, L Cooper, S R. Burrows, D J. Moss, S M. Haryana, M Ng, J M. Nicholls, and R Khanna (2004) Selection Pressure-Driven Evolution of the Epstein-Barr Virus-Encoded Oncogene LMP1 in Virus Isolates from Southeast Asia J Virol. Journal of Virology 78(13): 7131-7137. PDF

Bromham L, Penny D (2003) The modern molecular clock. Nature Reviews Genetics 4:216-224. PDF

Bromham L (2003) Molecular clocks and explosive radiations. J. Mol. Evol. 57: S13-S20. PDF

Bromham L (2003) What can DNA tell us about the Cambrian Explosion? Integrative and Comparative Biology, 43(1): 148-156. PDF

Woolfit M, Bromham L. (2003) Increased rates of sequence evolution in endosymbiotic bacteria and fungi with small effective population sizes. Mol. Biol. Evol. 20(9):1545–1555. PDF

Cardillo M, Huxtable JS, Bromham L (2003) Geographic range size, life history and rates of diversification in Australian mammals. J. Evol. Biol 16:282–288. PDF

Bromham L, Cardillo M. (2003) Testing the link between the latitudinal gradient in species richness and rates of molecular evolution. J. Evol. Biol, 16: 200-207. PDF

Bromham L, Eyre-Walker A, Smith NH, Maynard Smith J (2003) Mitochondrial Steve: paternal inheritance of mitochondria in humans. Trends Ecol. Evol. 18(1): 2-4. PDF