BioGeoBEARS - A Bayesian Approach to Biogeography

Matzke is currently on a 3-year Discovery Early Career Award (DECRA) postdoctoral fellowship at the Australian National University in Canberra. He assumed this position after a two fellowship at the National Institute of Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) based at the University of Tennessee. His PhD is from the University of California Berkeley. Before starting at Berkeley he worked for the National Center for Science Education and was part of the Dover vs Kitzmiller team that successfully sued to remove creationist's textbook from public school curriculum.

Background: Goals of historical biogeography. A short history of historical biogeography methods. BioGeoBEARS overview and statistical model choice. Under the hood: likelihood calculations. Practical analysis in BioGeoBEARS. Diagramming biogeographic history: Interpreting graphics. Planning your own analyses. Advanced BioGeoBEARS. Common mistakes, caveats and assumptions. Counting events: Biogeographical Stochastic Mapping (BSM). New models: trait-based biogeography. The future of historical/phylogenetic biogeography.