David Jablonski

About

David Jablonski is a Professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Geophysical Sciences. His research focuses on macroevolution, paleobiology, and evolutionary paleoecology, with a particular emphasis on marine invertebrates. Jablonski's work explores the patterns and processes that have shaped biodiversity over geological time, including the impact of mass extinctions and the origins of modern marine biota. He has contributed significantly to understanding the latitudinal diversity gradient, the dynamics of marine faunas, and the fossil record's role in macroevolutionary studies. His research integrates paleontological data with biogeography and evolutionary theory, advancing knowledge of how environmental and biological factors influence biodiversity patterns across spatial and temporal scales.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Biology
• Paleontology
• Ecology
• Evolutionary biology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Genetics

Selected publications

• Evolvability and Macroevolution: Overview and Synthesis

  Evolutionary Biology · 2022 · 56 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Evolvability is best addressed from a multi-level, macroevolutionary perspective through a comparative approach that tests for among-clade differences in phenotypic diversification in response to an opportunity, such as encountered after a mass extinction, entering a new adaptive zone, or entering a new geographic area. Analyzing the dynamics of clades under similar environmental conditions can (partially) factor out shared external drivers to recognize intrinsic differences in evolvabi…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Calibrating phylogenies assuming bifurcation or budding alters inferred macroevolutionary dynamics in a densely sampled phylogeny of bivalve families

  Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · 2021 · 45 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Analyses of evolutionary dynamics depend on how phylogenetic data are time-scaled. Most analyses of extant taxa assume a purely bifurcating model, where nodes are calibrated using the daughter lineage with the older first occurrence in the fossil record. This contrasts with budding, where nodes are calibrated using the younger first occurrence. Here, we use the extensive fossil record of bivalve molluscs for a large-scale evaluation of how branching models affect macroevolutionary analyses. We t…

  DOI

• Diversity, distribution and intrinsic extinction vulnerability of exploited marine bivalves

  Nature Communications · 2023-08-15 · 31 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Marine bivalves are important components of ecosystems and exploited by humans for food across the world, but the intrinsic vulnerability of exploited bivalve species to global changes is poorly known. Here, we expand the list of shallow-marine bivalves known to be exploited worldwide, with 720 exploited bivalve species added beyond the 81 in the United Nations FAO Production Database, and investigate their diversity, distribution and extinction vulnerability using a metric based on ecological t…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• High-throughput micro-CT scanning and deep learning segmentation workflow for analyses of shelly invertebrates and their fossils: Examples from marine Bivalvia

  Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · 2023 · 27 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  The largest source of empirical data on the history of life largely derives from the marine invertebrates. Their rich fossil record is an important testing ground for macroecological and macroevolutionary theory, but much of this historical biodiversity remains locked away in consolidated sediments. Manually preparing invertebrate fossils out of their matrix can require weeks to months of careful excavation and cannot guarantee the recovery of important features on specimens. Micro-CT is greatly…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Ecological structure of diversity-dependent diversification in Phanerozoic marine bivalves

  Biology Letters · 2024 · 19 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Rigorous analysis of diversity-dependence-the hypothesis that the rate of proliferation of new species is inversely related to standing diversity-requires consideration of the ecology of the organisms in question. Differences between infaunal marine bivalves (living entirely within the sediment) and epifaunal forms (living partially or completely above the sediment-water interface) predict that these major ecological groups should have different diversity dynamics: epifaunal species may compete…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Late Cenozoic dynamics of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient: Regional extinction, range expansion, and biological attributes

  NSF · $402k · 2016–2023

• Collaborative Research: Bivalves in time and space: testing the accuracy of methods to reconstruct ancestral morphology, dates, geography, and diversification patterns

  NSF · $237k · 2009–2014

• DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Integrating Fossils and Molecules to Trace Ecological Divergence and Convergence in Marine Bivalves

  NSF · $11k · 2015–2018

Frequent coauthors

• Peter M. Sheehan

  University of East Anglia

  654 shared

• Michael R. Sandy

  University of Dayton

  651 shared

• Daniel B. Blake

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  651 shared

• Donald R. Prothero

  651 shared

• Arnold Miller Cincinnati

  United States Geological Survey

  651 shared

• Steven M. Stanley

  651 shared

• Donald P. Lawrence

  651 shared

• June R. P. Ross

  651 shared

Labs

• David Jablonski LabPI

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