Comparative Phylogenetics Research Group

Dr Natalie Cooper

Leader of the Comparative Phylogenetics Research Group

Research Interests

My research interests are ecology and evolution, particularly the intersections between the two. I work with phylogenies, ecological data, trait data collected from museum specimens, species geographic range maps and the global mammal parasite database to try and understand broad scale patterns of biodiversity. I am also interested in developing and testing phylogenetic comparative methods. I have recently been working on the evolution of primate parasites with  with Dr. Charles L. Nunn at Harvard University.

Publications

2011

Collen, B., McRae, L., Deinet, S., De Palma, A., Carranza, T., Cooper, N., Loh, J. & Baillie, J.E.M. 2011. Predicting how populations decline to extinction,Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Series B: Biological Sciences, 366: 2577-2586.pdf

Freckleton, R.P.,Cooper, N., & Jetz, W. 2011. Comparative methods as a statistical fix: the dangers of ignoring an evolutionary model, The American Naturalist, 178: E10-E17. DOI: 10.1086/660272. pdf

Cooper, N., Freckleton, R.P. & Jetz, W. 2011. Phylogenetic conservatism of environmental niches in mammals, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, 278: 2384:2391. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2207.pdf

2010

Cooper, N. Jetz, W. & Freckleton, R.P. 2010. Phylogenetic comparative approaches for studying niche conservatism, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 23: 2529:2539. DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02144.x. pdf 

Cooper, N. & Purvis, A. 2010. Body size evolution in mammals: complexity in tempo and mode, The American Naturalist, 175: 727:738. DOI: 10.1086/652466. pdf

Belmaker, J., Cooper, N. Lee, T.M. & Wilman, H. *all authors contributed equally. 2010. Specialization and the road to academic success, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 8: 514:515. DOI: 10.1890/10.WB.25. pdf 

2009

Cooper, N. & Purvis, A. 2009. What factors shape rates of phenotypic evolution? A comparative study in four mammalian clades, Journal of Evolutionary Biology,22: 1024:1035. DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01714.x pdf 

Bielby, J., Cardillo, M. Cooper, N., & Purvis, A. 2009. Modeling extinction risk in multispecies data sets: phylogenetically independent contrasts vs. decision trees, Biodiversity and Conservation, 19: 113:127. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-009-9709-0pdf

2008

Cooper, N., Rodriguez, J. & Purvis, A. 2008. A tendency for phylogenetic overdispersion in mammalian communities, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, 275: 2031:2037. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0420pdf 

Cooper, N., Bielby, J., Thomas, G.H. & Purvis, A. 2008. Macroecology and extinction risk correlates of frogs, Global Ecology and Biogeography, 17: 211:221. DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2007.00355.x pdf 

Meiri, S., Cooper, N. & Purvis, A. 2008. The island rule: made to be broken?Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, 275: 141:148. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1056 pdf 

Bielby, J., Cooper, N., Cunningham, A., Garner, T. & Purvis, A. 2008. Predictors of global rapid decline in the world’s frog species, Conservation Letters, 1: 82:90. DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2008.00015.x pdf

Non-peer reviewed

Cooper, N. & Belmaker, J. 2010. Opinion: Habitat data resolution and the detection of species interactions, Frontiers of Biogeography, 2: 46. pdf 

Contact

Mail: Zoology Building, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Email: ncooper(at)tcd.ie, Fax: + 353 1 6778094