John Bates

Curator and Section Head, Life Sciences

Negaunee Integrative Research Center

Staff - current

Contact Information

312.665.7730 (office)
312.665.7754 (fax)
jbates@fieldmuseum.org

The tropics harbor the highest species diversity on the planet. I am most intrigued by evolution at the tips of the tree of life. My students and I study genetic structure in tropical birds and other organisms to address how this diversity evolved and how it continues to evolve as climates change and humans continue to alter landscapes.

We study comparative genetic structure and evolution primarily in the Afrotropics, the Neotropics, and the Asian tropics. I am an ornithologist, but students working with me and my wife Shannon Hackett and other museum curators also have studied amphibians and small mammals (bats and rodents) and more recently internal, external and blood parasites (e.g., Lutz et al. 2015, Block et al. 2015, Patitucci et al. 2016). Research in the our lab has involved gathering and interpreting genetic data in both phylogeographic and phylogenetic frameworks. Phylogenetic work on Neotropical birds has focused on rates of diversification and comparative biogeography (Tello and Bates 2007, Pantané et al 2009, Patel et al. 2011, Lutz et al. 2013, Dantas et al. 2015). Phylogeographic work has sought to understand comparative patterns of divergence at level of population and species across different biomes (Bates et al 2003, Bates et al. 2004, Bowie et al. 2006, I. Caballero dissertation research, Block et al. 2015, Winger and Bates 2015, Lawson et al. 2015). We also have used genetic data to better understand evolutionary patterns in relation to climate change across landscapes (e.g., Carnaval and Bates 2007) that include the Albertine Rift (through our MacArthur Grants, e.g., Voelker et al. 2010, Engel et al. 2014), the Eastern Arc Mountains (Lawson dissertation research, Lawson et al. 2015), the Philippines (T. Roberts and S. Weyandt dissertation research) and South America, particularly the Amazon (Savit dissertation research, Savit and Bates 2015, Figueiredo et al. 2013), and we are entering into the genomic realm focusing initially on Andean (Winger et al. 2015) and Amazonian birds (through our NSF Dimensions of Diversity grant). Shane DuBay is doing his dissertation research in the Himalayas on physiological plasticity in Tarsiger Bush Robins. Nick Crouch, who I co-advise at U. Illinois, Chicago with Roberta Mason-Gamer, is studying specialization in birds from a modern phylogenetic perspective. We seek to create a broader understanding of diversification in the tropics from a comparative biogeographic framework (Silva and Bates 2002, Kahindo et al, 2007, Bates et al. 2008, Antonelli et al. 2009). João Capurucho (U. Illinois, Chicago, co-advised with Mary Ashley) is studying phlylogeography of Amazonian white sand specialist birds and Natalia Piland (Committee on Evolutionary Biology, U. Chicago) is studying the impact of urbanization on Neotropical birds. New graduate student Valentina Gomez Bahamon (U. Illinois, Chicago) is also working Boris Igic and me, after doing her Master Degree in her native Colombia on genomics and the evolution of migrating Fork-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus savana). Jacob Cooper (Committee on Evolutionary Biology, U. Chicago) is studying the diversification of birds in Afromonte forests

Josh Engel and I are working up multi-species phylogeographic studies of birds across the Albertine Rift, based the Bird Division's long term research throughout the region. We are working up similar data sets for Malawian birds. Our current NSF Dimensions of Diversity grant on the assembly of the Amazonian biota and our NSF grant to survey birds and their parasites across the southern Amazon are generating genomic data for analysis in collaboration with paleoecologists, climatologists, geologists, and remote sensing experts from the U.S. and Brazil. These large collaborative projects are providing new perspectives on the history of Amazonia.

Education and Work

Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 1993.

M.S., University of Arizona, 1987.

B.S., University of Arizona, 1983.

Accomplishments

See attached publication list

Research Sketch

Systematics, genetic structure, and geographic variation in the tropics.

My research focuses on genetic structure of tropical birds, primarily at the level of populations and species. At a continental scale, I use data from DNA sequences to uncover patterns of history among lineages of South American, African, and Malagasy birds. Multi-taxon studies, in which samples of different taxa are obtained at each geographic site provide insightful comparative data sets. Coupled with an understanding of distribution and ecology, we can search for correlations between molecular differentiation and other aspects of the biology of these birds such as morphological differentiation, ecology (e.g., habitat selection, foraging guild membership, breeding system, degree of seasonal movement) and phylogenetic relationships (phylogenetic constraints). With Shannon Hackett and TFM research scientist Jason Weckstein, I have been studying co-evolutionary patterns in birds, their parasites and pathogens. In addition to addressing evolutionary questions, I have focused research efforts on demonstating how patterns of genetic structure have relevance to conservation biology.

My former students have studied similar questions in birds and other organisms throughout the tropics (e.g., flycatchers and antbirds in the neotropical lowlands, Jose Tello; Albertine Rift warblers, Charles Kahindo; Ana Carnaval, frogs of northeastern Brazil; Philippine Fruit bats, Trina Roberts; East African frogs, Lucinda Lawson; Philippine insectivorous bats, Sara Weyandt.). Recently graduates Ben Winger and Aaron Savit (University of Chicago) studied the evolution of South American birds (Winger and Bates 2015, Winger et al. 2015, Savit and Bates 2015), and Isabel Caballero (Univeristy of Illinois, Chicago) studied population genetics of Peregrine Falcons (Caballero et al. 2016). Current students are working on loss of migration in Neotropical birds (Valentina Gomez, U. I. Chicago), Evolution of white sand birds (Joao Capurucho, U. I. Chicago), Evolution of specialization (Nick Crouch, U. I. Chicago), Evolution and physiology of elevational migration in Himalayan bush robins (Tarsiger) (Shane DuBay, U. Chicago), Effects of urbanization on Neotropical birds (Natalia Piland, U. Chicago), and the Evolution of Afro-montane forest birds (Jacob Cooper, U. Chicago).

At the local geographic scale, I have studied genetic structure in populations of five forest understory species from continuous forest and from forest fragments in northeastern Bolivia. The sites in continuous forest and the forest fragments are all within 200 km of one another, yet genetic differentiation appears to have developed in the forest fragments for three of the species studied. This work also has implications for the design of nature reserves and for conservation planning, because my data indicate that genetic structure in these forest species can be affected by forest fragmentation.

I also study geographic variation using traditional museum specimens and computerized databases. One such study of geographic variation in some South American finches (genus Tiaris) uncovered misconceptions about traditional species limits and diagnosable populations. Another led to the description of a new species of hanging parrot (Loriculus camiguinensis), which is endemic to the small island of Camiguin in the Philippines. This description was based on a series of specimens collected in the 1960s and deposited in the Field Museum's collections. A colalborative project with Research Associate Guy Kirwan used Field Museum specimens to document a previously unrecognized pattern of migration in Eurpoean stonechats (Saxicola torquata). In 2010, a collaborative project led by Research Associate Gary Voelker described a new species of Bush-shrike, Laniarius willardi, based on a detailed anaylsis of both modern and historical Field Museum specimens. The new species, named in honor of our retired Collections Manager of Birds David Willard, is only known from mid-elevations of Albertine Rift forests in central Africa and appears highly endangered based on our ongoing assessments of the niche of this species.

Such studies demonstrate the vital importance of museum collections and, along with results of molecular studies, emphasize that additional inventory work on birds is sorely needed. Collaborative fieldwork by the division over the last 10 years has included Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Uganda, Central African Republic, Gabon, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Madagascar and Bhutan. In all countries where we work, building capacity for collections-based ornithological science is a primary goal of our efforts because collections everywhere can be used for teaching and research, telling us now and in the future so much about the birds with which we share the planet.

With Dr. Charles Kahindo and the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles (CRSN), Lwiro bird crew at Tshibati, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2005.