Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Current Research
Members of my group are variouslly using the fossil record to answer questions about large scale, ‘macroevolutionary’ processes. Between us, we are interested in how fossils can be useful in building phylogenies, how groups diversify though ‘design space’, and how shifts in developmental programs can underpin the largest, macroevolutionary changes.
Projects being undertaken by current members of my lab include:
- The phylogeny of Eumalacostraca using molecules, morphology and fossils
- Testing macroevolutionary trends, particularly patterns of disparity through time
- The congruence of phylogeny and stratigraphy
- The quality of phylogentic data
- How ‘shaky’ are phylogenetic trees including fossils?
- Fossilisation filters and the Tree of Life
- Building a supertree of arthropods
- Ontogenetic disparity and the evolution of molluscs
Goals
To improve our understanding of some of the deepest branches in animal evolution, and to evaluate the contribution that fossil make to resolving these.
To test the validity of putative macroevolutionary trends (e.g., early high morphological disparity and increasing complexity).
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Projects
- 8 Finished
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Mark Puttick Fellowship : Biodiversity and The Sixth Mass Extinction
Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
1/12/17 → 30/11/20
Project: UK charity
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Susceptibility to Mass Extinctions: Ammonites as a Case Study
Natural Environment Research Council
1/02/14 → 28/02/17
Project: Research council
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The Arthropod Supertree of Life: An Online Interactive Resource for Testing patterns in Arthropod Evolution
Wills, M. & Davis, K.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
1/12/12 → 30/04/16
Project: Research council
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Divergent vertebral formulae shape the evolution of axial complexity in mammals
Li, Y., Brinkworth, A., Green, E., Oyston, J., Wills, M. & Ruta, M., 31 Mar 2023, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 7, 3, p. 367-381 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
8 Billion People: How Evolution Made it Happen
Wills, M., 15 Nov 2022, The Conversation.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
Open Access -
Crabs have evolved five separate times – why do the same forms keep appearing in nature?
Wills, M., 6 Dec 2022, The Conversation.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
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Ecological transitions and the shape of the decapod tree of life
Davis, K., De Grave, S., Delmer, C., Payne, A., Mitchell, S. & Wills, M., 31 Aug 2022, In: Integrative and Comparative Biology. 62, 2, p. 332-344 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (SciVal) -
Evolución: cómo influyó el sexismo de la época en las teorías de Darwin
Wills, M., 24 Jan 2022, The Conversation.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article