Joseph Orkin

A History of Primatology in Canada and an Introduction to the Special Issue Primatological research by anthropologists and evolutionary biologists based in Canada has expanded greatly since its inception ca. 60 years ago. The research foci of the founding primatologists were...

Delighted to say that my and Amanda Melin's special issue of the American Journal of Primatology on primatology in Canada is now complete with 18 papers(!!) and the Introduction has just been published! Co-authored by Linda Fedigan. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Lots of fun talking lemur genomics at Concordia University for the Montreal Genomics series last night! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Integrative taxonomy clarifies the evolution of a cryptic primate clade - Nature Ecology & Evolution A spatial taxonomic framework integrating genomic, morphological, ecological, life history and acoustic data is used to clarify the cryptic evolution of the taxonomically controversial mouse lemur com...

There is also another great paper on mouse lemur diversification in the new edition of @natureecoevo.bsky.social from van Elst et al., so be sure to check it out! That's their amazing mouse lemur photo on the cover!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/natecolevol/...

3. Many lemurs have really high genomic diversity when compared to most other primates. We found a pervasive pattern of interspecific gene flow among those species that likely occurred during Pleistocene forest fragmentation and reconnection #RetreatDispersal

2. Species in the same ecogeographic regions have similar patterns of demographic history. The ecological demands of Madagascar’s wet and dry forest ecosystems have shaped the population size and genomic diversity of many species of lemurs throughout the Pleistocene.

1. Dramatic recent population declines in lemurs are consistent with the timing of human population expansion across Madagascar during the last 2000 years and a shift toward the consumption of smaller lemurs following the extinction of other larger bodied species. #SubsistenceShiftHypothesis

Neglected primates no more! 162 lemur genomes from 50 species in our latest paper: Ecological and anthropogenic effects on the genomic diversity of lemurs in Madagascar! 1 of 2 lemur evolution papers in Jan25 @natureecoevo.bsky.social

3 big takeaways below! rdcu.be/d4XWV @tmarquesbonet.bsky.social