Palaeontologists characterize mass extinctions as times when the Earth loses more than
three-quarters of its species in a geologically short interval, as has happened only five times …

The efforts to protect biological diversity must be prioritized because resources for nature
conservation are limited. Conservation prioritization can be based on numerous criteria …

Big, time-scaled phylogenies are fundamental to connecting evolutionary processes to
modern biodiversity patterns. Yet inferring reliable phylogenetic trees for thousands of …

Previous analyses of relations, divergence times, and diversification patterns among extant
mammalian families have relied on supertree methods and local molecular clocks. We …

Endemism and species richness are highly relevant to the global prioritization of
conservation efforts in which oceanic islands have remained relatively neglected. When …

The strength of phylogenetic signal in extinction risk can give insight into the mechanisms
behind species' declines. Nevertheless, no existing measure of phylogenetic pattern in a …

Knowledge of mammalian diversity is still surprisingly disparate, both regionally and
taxonomically. Here, we present a comprehensive assessment of the conservation status …

Protists are ubiquitous members of soil microbial communities, but the structure of these
communities, and the factors that influence their diversity, are poorly understood. We used …

Background Development of phylogenetic methods that do not rely on fossils for the study of
evolutionary processes through time have revolutionized the field of evolutionary biology …

Background Two decades of research showing that increasing plant diversity results in
greater community productivity has been predicated on greater functional diversity allowing …