H. Bradley Shaffer

Rapid fixation of non-native alleles revealed by genome-wide SNP analysis of hybrid tiger salamanders (2009)

Fitzpatrick, Benjamin M, Johnson, Jarrett R, Kump, D Kevin, Shaffer, H Bradley, Smith, Jeramiah J, Voss, S Randal

Abstract Background Hybrid zones represent valuable opportunities to observe evolution in systems that are unusually dynamic and where the potential for the origin of novelty and rapid adaptation...

Assessing what is needed to resolve a molecular phylogeny: simulations and empirical data from emydid turtles (2009)

Spinks, Phillip Q, Thomson, Robert C, Lovely, Geoff A, Shaffer, H Bradley

Abstract Background Phylogenies often contain both well-supported and poorly supported nodes. Determining how much additional data might be required to eventually recover most or all nodes with high...

Conflicting Mitochondrial and Nuclear Phylogenies for the Widely Disjunct Emys (Testudines: Emydidae) Species Complex, and What They Tell Us about Biogeography and Hybridization (2009)

Spinks, Phillip Q., Shaffer, H. Bradley

Understanding the mechanisms by which widely disjunct members of a clade came to occupy their current distribution is one of the fundamental challenges of biogeography. Here, we used data from 7...

Rapid Color Evolution in an Aposematic Species: A Phylogenetic Analysis of Color Variation in the Strikingly Polymorphic Strawberry Poison-dart Frog (2008)

Ian J. Wang, H. Bradley Shaffer

Aposematism is one of the great mysteries of evolutionary biology. The evolution of aposematic coloration is poorly understood, but even less understood is the evolution of polymorphism in aposematic...

Delimiting Species in Recent Radiations (2007)

Shaffer, H. Bradley, Thomson, Robert C.

Despite considerable effort from the systematics community, delimiting species boundaries in recent radiations remains a daunting challenge. We argue that genealogical approaches, although sometimes...

Phylogenetic hypotheses for the turtle family Geoemydidae (2004)

Spinks, Phillip Q, Shaffer, H Bradley, Iverson, J B, McCord, W P

The turtle family Geoemydidae represents the largest, most diverse, and most poorly understood family of turtles. Little is known about this group, including intrafamilial systematics. The only...

ENVIRONMENT-DEPENDENT ADMIXTURE DYNAMICS IN A TIGER SALAMANDER HYBRID ZONE (2004)

Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick, H. Bradley Shaffer

After an estimated five million years of independent evolution, the barred tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum mavortium) was introduced by bait dealers into the native range of the California tiger...

Assessing Concordance of Fossil Calibration Points in Molecular Clock Studies: An Example Using Turtles (2004)

Thomas J. Near, Peter A. Meylan, H. Bradley Shaffer

abstract: Although still controversial, estimation of divergence times using molecular data has emerged as a powerful tool to examine the tempo and mode of evolutionary change. Two primary obstacles...

Multiple Data Sets, High Homoplasy, and the Phylogeny of Softshell Turtles (Testudines: Trionychidae) (2004)

Engstrom, Tag N., Shaffer, H. Bradley, McCord, William P.

We present a phylogenetic hypothesis and novel, rank-free classification for all extant species of softshell turtles (Testudines: Trionychidae). Our data set included DNA sequence data from two...

MOLECULAR SYSTEMATICS, PHYLOGEOGRAPHY, AND THE EFFECTS OF PLEISTOCENE GLACIATION IN THE PAINTED TURTLE (CHRYSEMYS PICTA) COMPLEX (2003)

David E. Starkey, H. Bradley Shaffer, Russell L. Burke, John B. Iverson, Fredric J. Janzen, ...

The painted turtle, Chrysemys picta, is currently recognized as a continentally distributed polytypic species, ranging across North America from southern Canada to extreme northern Mexico. We...

Life History and Demographic Variation in the California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense) (2000)

Peter C. Trenham, H. Bradley Shaffer, Walter D. Koenig, Mark R. Stromberg

In December 1991, we initiated a long-term study of the California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense) at a breeding pond in Monterey County, California. Because of habitat loss, this species...

Tests of Turtle Phylogeny: Molecular, Morphological, and Paleontological Approaches (1997)

Shaffer, H. Bradley, Meylan, Peter, McKnight, Mark L.

We present phylogenetic analyses of both molecular and morphological data for the 23 major lineages of living turtles and seven key fossil taxa. Nearly 1 kilobase of cytochrome b sequence, 325 base...

Phylogenetic and Mechanistic Analysis of A Developmentally Integrated Character Complex: Alternate Life History Modes in Ambystomatid Salamanders1 (1996)

SHAFFER, H. BRADLEY, VOSS, S. RANDAL

Many of the critical pieces are now in place to exploit the evolution of paedomorphosis (metamorphic failure) as a model for both the phylogenetic and mechanistic analysis of a developmentally...

Phylogenetics of Model Organisms: The Laboratory Axolotl, Ambystoma Mexicanum (1993)

Shaffer, H. Bradley

The axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum, has been an important model system in both developmental and evolutionary biology for over 100 years. The axolotl is a recently derived member of the Ambystoma...

Adaptive evolution via a major gene effect: Paedomorphosis in the Mexican axolotl

Voss, S. Randal, Shaffer, H. Bradley

Although adaptive evolution is thought to depend primarily on mutations of small effect, major gene effects may underlie many of the important differences observed among species in nature. The...

Adaptive evolution via a major gene effect: Paedomorphosis in the Mexican axolotl

Voss, S. Randal, Shaffer, H. Bradley

Although adaptive evolution is thought to depend primarily on mutations of small effect, major gene effects may underlie many of the important differences observed among species in nature. The...

Hybrid vigor between native and introduced salamanders raises new challenges for conservation

Fitzpatrick, Benjamin M., Shaffer, H. Bradley

Hybridization between differentiated lineages can have many different consequences depending on fitness variation among hybrid offspring. When introduced organisms hybridize with natives, the ensuing...