People

Prof. S. Nee

Location: Ashworth Annexe
Telephone: 0131 650 7335
Email: sean.nee@ed.ac.uk
Web-Site:

C.V.

PhD, University of Sussex, 1987. AFRC (BBSRC) Research Fellow (1992-1995) then Lecturer, University of Oxford, 1995-1998. Lecturer, University of Edinburgh, 1998 -.

Research groupings

Population Genetics and Evolution

Teaching

Population Genetics and Evolution

Research interests

By convention, there have been five Mass Extinctions in Earth history, and the sixth is currently underway as a result of tropical deforestation. So it is no surprise that I am interested in various questions that are raised by the extinction process. Why are some species more sensitive than others to habitat destruction? Might there be unanticipated consequences flowing from the extinction of species enmeshed in complicated ecological webs? Although extinction is an ecological process, we can also view it from the perspective of evolutionary history. This leads us to questions about how different patterns of extinction translate into a loss of evolutionary history.

Representative publications

Gandon, S, Mackinnon, MJ, Nee, S, Read, AF. (2002) Microbial evolution - Antitoxin vaccines and pathogen virulence - Reply. Nature 417, 610

Nee, S. (2002) Thinking big in ecology. Nature 417, 229-230

West, SA, Smith, TG, Nee, S, Read, AF (2002) Fertility insurance and the sex ratios of malaria and related hemospororin blood parasites. Journal of Parasitology 88, 258-263

Nee, S, West, SA, Read, AF (2002) Inbreeding and parasite sex ratios Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 269, 755-760

Gandon, S, Mackinnon, MJ, Nee, S, Read, AF. (2001). Imperfect vaccines and the evolution of pathogen virulence. Nature 414, 751-756.

Barraclough, TG, Nee, S. (2001). Phylogenetics and speciation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 16, 391-399.

Nee, S. (2001). Inferring speciation rates from phylogenies. Evolution 55, 661-668.

Nee, S. (2000). Mutualism, parasitism and competition in the evolution of coviruses. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. Ser. B. 355, 1607-1613.

Barraclough, TG, Nee, S, Harvey, PH. (1998) Sister-group analysis in identifying correlates of diversification - Comment Evolutionary Ecology 12, 751-754

McCall, RA, Nee, S, Harvey, PH. (1998) The role of wing length in the evolution of avian flightlessness Evolutionary Ecology 12, 569-580

Nee, S. & May, R.M. (1997). Extinction and the loss of evolutionary history. Science 278, 692-694.

Nee, S., May, R.M. & Hassell, M.P. (1997). Two-species metapopulation models. In Metapopulation Dynamics (eds Hanski, I. & Gilpin, M.) pp. 123-147. Academic Press.

Nee, S. & Barraclough, T.G. (1996). Temporal changes in biodiversity: detecting patterns and identifying causes. In Biodiversity (ed. Gaston, K.) pp. 230-252. Oxford University Press.