Rafe Brown
Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Curator-in-charge, Herpetology Division, KU Biodiversity Institute
Ph.D., University of Texas
Office: Dyche Hall
Phone: 785-864-3403
Websites
Brown Lab: http://www.nhm.ku.edu/rbrown/
KU Herpetology Division: http://www.nhm.ku.edu/herpetology/
Recent Courses
Principles of Biogeography
Herpetology
Phylogeography
Doctor Dissertation Improvement Grant Writing
Research Interests
I am interested in understanding evolutionary processes of diversification in island archipelagos. Using molecular markers in conjunction with statistical approaches to phylogeny estimation, I am interested in testing hypotheses regarding species boundaries, distributions, dispersal, isolation, and diversity. Questions of lineage diversification and species-specific responses to the geographic template are particularly attractive research topics for an empirical systematist working in island archipelagos. My fieldwork is based primarily in the archipelagos of the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands where I take a comparative, multi-taxon approach to biogeographical studies of land vertebrates. As a systematic herpetologist, I maintain a commitment to biodiversity studies, taxonomy, and conservation of amphibians and reptiles of Southeast Asia.
Representative Publications
Brown, R. M., C. D. Siler, I. Das, and P. Y. Min. 2012. Testing the phylogenetic affinities of Southeast Asia’s rarest geckos: flap-legged geckos (Luperosaurus), flying geckos (Ptychozoon) and their relationship to the pan-Asian genus Gekko. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Siler, C. D., J. R. Oaks, C. W. Linkem, J. Swab, A. C. Diesmos, and R. M. Brown. 2012. Did geckos ride the Palawan raft to the Philippines? Journal of Biogeography doi/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02680.x
Linkem, C. W., A. C. Diesmos, and R. M. Brown. 2011. Molecular systematics of the Philippine forest skinks (Reptilia: Scincidae: Sphenomorphus): testing morphological and biogeographic hypotheses of interspecific relationships. Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society 163:1217–1243.
Brown, R. M., C. D. Siler, C. H. Oliveros, A. C. Diesmos, and A. C. Alcala. 2011. A new Gekko from Sibuyan Island, central Philippines. Herpetologica 67:460–476.
Swei, A., J. J.L. Rowley, D. Rödder, M. L. L. Diesmos, A. C. Diesmos, C. J. Briggs, R. M. Brown, et al. 2011. Is chytridiomycosis an emerging disease in Asia? PLoS ONE 6:e23179: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023179
Sanguila, M. B., C. D. Siler, A. C. Diesmos, O. Nuñeza, and R. M. Brown. 2011. Phylogeography and conservation implications of geographic structure of genetic variation and potential species boundaries in Philippine slender toads. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 61:333–350.
Setiadi, M. I., J. A. McGuire, R. M. Brown, M. Zubairi, D. T. Iskandar, N. Andayani, J. Supriatna, and B. J. Evans. 2011. Adaptive radiation and ecological opportunity in Sulawesi and Philippine fanged frog (Limnonectes) communities. American Naturalist 178:221–240.
Esselstyn, J. A., S. P. Maher, and R. M. Brown. 2011. Species interactions during diversification and community assembly in an island radiation of shrews. PLoS ONE 6: e21885 1–13.
Siler, C. D., A. C. Diesmos, A. C. Alcala, and R. M. Brown. 2011. Phylogeny of Philippine slender skinks (Scincidae: Brachymeles) reveals underestimated species diversity, complex biogeographical relationships, and cryptic patterns of lineage diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 59:53–65.
Brown, R. M., C W. Linkem, C. D. Siler, J. Sukumaran J. A. Esselstyn, A. C. Diesmos, D. T. Iskandar, D. Bickford, B. J. Evans, J. A. McGuire, L. Grismer, J. Supriatna, and N. Andayani. 2010. Phylogeography and historical demography of Polypedates leucomystax in the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines: evidence for recent human-mediated range expansion? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57:598–619.
Welton, L. J., C. D. Siler, D. Bennett, A. C. Diesmos, M. R. Duya, R. Dugay, E. L. Rico, M. van Weerd, and R. M. Brown. 2010. A spectacular new Philippine monitor lizard reveals a hidden biogeographic boundary and a novel flagship species for conservation. Biology Letters. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0119
Siler, C. D., J. R. Oaks, J. A. Esselstyn, A. C. Diesmos, and R. M. Brown. 2010. Phylogeny and biogeography of Philippine bent-toed geckos (Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus) contradict a prevailing model of Pleistocene diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 55:699–710
Brown, R. M., C. D. Siler, A. C. Diesmos and A. C. Alcala. 2009. . The Philippine frogs of the genus Leptobrachium (Anura; Megophryidae): phylogeny-based species delimitation, taxonomic revision, and descriptions of three new species. Herpetological Monographs 23:1–44.
Esselstyn, J. A., R, M. Timm, and R. M. Brown. 2009. Do geological or climatic processes drive speciation in dynamic archipelagos? The evolution of shrew diversity on SE Asian islands. Evolution 63:2595–2610.
Setiadi, M. I., A. Hamidy, Z. Abidin, R. M. Brown, A. T. Peterson, X. Li, B. J. Evans. 2009. Geographic genetic structure of herpetofauna on Halmahera Island, Indonesia: implications for the Aketajawe-Lolobata National Park. Conservation Biology 24:553–562.
Matsui, M., A. Tominaga, W. Liu, W. Khonsue, L. L. Grismer, A. C. Diesmos, I. Das, A. Sudin, P. Yambun, H. Yong, and R. M. Brown. 2009. Phylogenetic Relationships of Ansonia from Southeast Asia inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences: Systematic and Biogeographic Implications (Anura: Bufonidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54:561–170.
Rowley, J., R. Brown, R. Bain, M. Kusrini, R. Inger, B. Stuart, G. Wogan, T. Chan-ard, C. T. Trung, A. C. Diesmos, D. T. Iskandar, M. Lau, L. T. Ming, S. Makchai, N. Thy, N. Q. Truong, and S. Phimmachak. 2009. Impending conservation crisis for Southeast Asian amphibians. Biology Letters. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0793
Full publication list: http://www.nhm.ku.edu/rbrown/PublicationsMain.htm