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Associate Professor;
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1995

Research and Professional Interests:

My research is focused on understanding the origin of biological diversity. To address this long-term goal, I study highly diversified groups of animals (primarily rodents) ranging from species to ordinal levels. I reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of these diverse groups to use as the framework for other analyses of diversification. My primary groups of interest are the muroid rodents, by far the most diverse group of mammals with 1,5000 species, and various sub-groups among the muroids, especially the South American sigmodontine mice (>360 species), and the Andean leaf-eared mice, Phyllotis. These phylogenies are then used to study morphological evolution, patterns of diversification, biogeography, and comparative quantitative genetics. Our techniques include phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequence (primarily large data sets with multiple nuclear genes) and morphological data, comparative analyses of covariation among traits, developing the comparative tools to test these multivariate patterns, analysis of geographic variation, and alpha-level systematics of living and fossil material. Go to my Home Page link above for more information.

I welcome students working in any of the general fields described above. Because my research is fundamentally question generated and not taxon based, students need not work on the same groups of animals that form the core of my current research.

A complete list of publications and pdfs for most of them are available for downloading from the Publications Page on my Home Site.

2006 Steppan, S. J., Ramirez, O., Banbury, J., Huchon, D., Pacheco, V., Walker, L, and Spotorno, A.O. A molecular reappraisal of the systematics of the leaf-eared mice Phyllotis and their relatives. Pp. xx-xx in The quintessential naturalist: honoring the life and legacy of Oliver P. Pearson (Kelt, D. A., E. Lessa, J. A. Salazar-Bravo, and J. L. Patton, eds.). University of California Publications in Zoology.

2005 Steppan, S. J., Adkins, R. M., Spinks, P. Q., and Hale, C. Multigene phylogeny of the Old World mice Murinae reveals distinct geographic lineages and the declining utility of mitochondrial genes compared to nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 37:370-388.

2005 Steppan, S. J., Seeing the Forest for the Trees. Book review of "Assembling the Tree of Life." Science. 307:677-678.

2004 Steppan, S. J., Adkins, R., and Anderson, J. Phylogeny and divergence date estimates of murid rodents based on multiple nuclear genes. Systematic Biology. 53(4):533-553.

2004 Holliday, J. A. and Steppan, S. J. Evolution of hypercarnivory: the effect of specialization on morphological and taxonomic diversity. Paleobiology. 30(1):108-128.

2004 Steppan, S. J., Storz, B. L., and Hoffmann, R. S. Nuclear DNA phylogeny of the squirrels (Mammalia: Rodentia) and the evolution of arboreality from c-myc and RAG1. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 30:703-719.

2003 Steppan, S. J., Zawadzki, C., and Heaney, L. R. Molecular phylogeny of the endemic Philippine rodent Apomys (Muridae) and the dynamics of diversification in an oceanic archipelago. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 80:699-715.

2002 Steppan, S.J., Houle, D., and Phillips, P.C. Comparative quantitative genetics: evolution of the G matrix. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 17:320-327.

2002 Kuch, M., Rohland, N., Betancourt, J., Lattore, C., Steppan, S.J., and Poinar, H.N. Molecular Analysis of a 11,700-yr old rodent midden from the Atacama Desert Chile. Molecular Ecology. 11:913-924.

2000 Steppan, S.J. and Sullivan, J. The emerging statistical perspective in systematics and the status of Andalgalomys (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae): a comment on Mares and Braun. Journal of Mammalogy. 81(1):260-270.

2000 Ortiz, P.E., Pardiñas, U.F.J. and Steppan, S.J. A new extinct phyllotine (Rodentia: Muridae) from the Pleistocene of Argentina and a consideration of the phylogenetic relationships of the "Reithrodon group." Journal of Mammalogy. 81(1):37-51.

1999 Steppan, S.J., Akhverdyan, M. R., Lyapunova, E.A., Fraser, D.G., Vorontsov, N.N., Hoffmann, R.S., and Braun, M.J. Molecular phylogeny of the marmots (Rodentia: Sciuridae): tests of evolutionary and biogeographic hypotheses. Systematic Biology. 48(4):715-734.

1997 Steppan, S.J. Phylogenetic analysis of phenotypic covariance structure. I. Contrasting results from matrix correlation and Common Principal Component analyses. Evolution. 51(2): 571-586.

1997 Steppan, S.J. Phylogenetic analysis of phenotypic covariance structure. II. Reconstructing matrix evolution. Evolution. 51(2): 587-594.

1995 Steppan, S.J. Revision of the tribe Phyllotini (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) with a phylogenetic hypothesis for the Sigmodontinae. Fieldiana: Zoology. n.s. 80:1-112.

Graduate Students:

Martin, Stephanie
Wray, Kenneth P.

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