Former postdoc Ryan Martin
Research on adaptation and climate change by Ryan Martin while a postdoc at NIMBioS appears this month in Science.
“Precipitation drives global variation in natural selection” quantifies how climate variation influences selection. With plant and animal data from multiple terrestrial biomes, temperature explained little variation, but precipitation and water evaporation, along with the North Atlantic Oscillation pressure system, predicted variation across the plant and animal populations. The results provide evidence that local and global climate cycles are likely important drivers of natural selection in the wild.
The research originated from a working group at the former National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in which Martin participated as a NIMBioS postdoc.
Martin was a NIMBioS postdoc from September 2012 – December 2013. Upon completing his NIMBioS fellowship, Martin accepted a faculty position in the Department of Biology at Case Western Reserve University where he continues today.