People

Jon NationsPostdoctoral Scholar

Research Focus:
Evolutionary Biology, Macroevolution, Mammals
Email:
jonnations@uchicago.edu

Biography:

Ph.D., Biology, Louisiana State University 2020

BS, Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2014

Research Interests:

My work focuses on the interplay of function, history, and ecology on morphological evolution. I combine data from museum specimens with myriad methodologies, such as phylogenetic inference, 2D and 3D morphometrics, stable isotope ecology, and multilevel modeling, to investigate the role of locomotion in the generation and maintenance of diversity in two species-rich group of small mammals, the murine rodents and the crocidurine shrews. Museum collections form the keystone of my research, and I am passionate about building collections and combining specimen data with current technologies to better understand mammalian diversity. 

Selected Publications:

Nations, J. A., G. G. Mountt, S. M. Morere, A. S. Achmadi, K. C. Rowe, and J. A. Esselstyn. 2021. Locomotory mode transitions alter phenotypic evolution and lineage diversification in an ecologically rich clade of mammals. Evolution 75:376-393.

Marcondes, R. S., J. A. Nations, G. F. Seeholzer, and R. T. Brumfield. 2021. Rethinking Gloger’s Rule: climate, light environments, and color in a large family of tropical birds (Furnariidae). The American Naturalist 197:5

Nations, J. A., L. R. Heaney, T. C. Demos, A. S. Achmadi, K. C. Rowe, and J. A. Esselstyn. 2019. A simple skeletal measurement effectively predicts climbing behavior in a diverse clade of small mammals. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 128:323–336.