Jesús Díaz Rodríguez
PhD Student
As a PhD student, I focused my research on the evolutionary history of Parsley frogs, an unusual and ancient primitive clade of anurans, from population-level divergence to speciation, in order to shed light on the relationship between genetic, behaviour and geographic variations, combining different sources of molecular and ecological informations.
This species complex (Pelodytidae), only represented by the genus Pelodytes, provides a optimal scenario to investigate the processes of reproductive isolation and admixture, and to test hypotheses about the influence of ecological climatic changes in shaping the current genetic diversity. In addition to the present-day distribution, inherent in Iberian biodiversity, the substructure found and its taxonomic implications, our studies allow us to identify areas of secondary contact between lineages which constitutes an interesting model for the study of speciation.
I'm also interested in popular science, in order to do more accesible to general public the results of scientific research and to contribute to the conservation genetic of amphibians, specially in a current scenario of global decline.