PUBLICATIONS

• Schley, R.J.; Piñeiro, R.; Nicholls, J. A.; Gaynor, M.; Lewis, G.; Fonseca Pezzini, F.; Dexter, K.; Kidner, C.; Pennington, T.; Twyford, A.D. ‘The frequency and importance of polyploidy in tropical rainforest tree radiations’ New Phytologist in press.

 

• Schley, R. J.; Piñeiro, R.; Nicholls, J. A.; Pezzini, F. ; Kidner, C.; Farbos, A.; Moore, K.; Ringelberg, J. J.; Twyford, A. D.; Dexter, K. D.; Pennington, R. T. (2025) ‘Rampant Reticulation in a Rapid Radiation of Tropical Trees - insights from Inga (Fabaceae)’ Systematic Biology syaf027. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaf027
   

• Cervantes, S.; Schley, R.J.; Hardy, O.J.; Ojeda, D. ‘Do syngameons exist in tropical trees? Challenges to determine their existence and estimate their frequency’ Biology Letters 21(11). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0444
   

• Kuhnhäuser, B.G.; … Schley, R. J… et al. (2025) Island geography drives evolution of rattan palms in tropical Asian rainforests. Science 387 (6739), 1204-1209. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0444
   

• Cerca, J., … Schley, R. J… et al. (2025). No evidence of transposable element bursts in the Galápagos Scalesia adaptive radiation despite hybridization, diversification and ecological niche shifts. Mobile DNA, 16(1), 1-14. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13100-025-00362-z
   

• Albreht, L.; Bourland, N.; Klitgård, B.B.; Schley, R.J.; Janssens, S.B.; Hardy, O.J. (2025) ‘Species delimitation and phylogenomics of economically important African Pterocarpus trees, with an implication for the development of DNA-based species identification tools’ Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 204, 10827. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108277
   

• Schley, R. J.; Pennington, R.T; Twyford, A.D.; Dexter, K.G.; Kidner, C.; Michael, T.P. (2024)
  ‘The genome sequence of Inga leiocalycina Benth.’ Wellcome Open Research 9, 606. DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.23131.1
   

• Schley, R. J.; Pennington, R.T; Twyford, A.D.; Dexter, K.G.; Kidner, C.; Michael, T.P. (2024)
  ‘The genome sequence of Inga oerstediana Benth.’ Wellcome Open Research 9, 607. DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.23146.1
   

• Schley, R. J.; Pennington, R.T; Twyford, A.D.; Dexter, K.G.; Kidner, C.; Michael, T.P. (2024)
  ‘The genome sequence of The genome sequence of Inga laurina (Sw.) Willd.’ Wellcome Open Research 9, 567. DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.23057.1
   

• De-Kayne, R.; Schley, R. J.; Barth, J. M. I. et al. (2024)
  ‘Why Do Some Lineages Radiate While Others Do Not? Perspectives for Future Research on Adaptive Radiations’ Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology. DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a041448
   

• Zutini A. R.; … Schley, R. J… et al. ‘Phylogenomics and the rise of the Angiosperms’ (2024) Nature. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07324-0
   

• Schley R. J.; Leitch I. J.; Christenhusz M. J. M. et al. (2023)
  The genome sequence of the tree of heaven, Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle, 1916’. Wellcome Open Research 8:321. DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.19628.1
   

• Schley, R. J.; Pellicer, J.; Ge, X.-J.; Barrett, C.; Bellot, S.; Guignard, M.; Novak, P.; Suda, J.; Fraser, D.; Baker, W.; Dodsworth, S.; Macas, J.; Leitch, A.; Leitch, I. J. (2022)
  ‘The Ecology of Palm Genomes: Repeat-associated genome size expansion is constrained by aridity’. New Phytologist. DOI: 10.1111/nph.18323

  • Featured on the cover https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14698137/2022/236/2

 

• Schley R. J., Qin, M., Vatanparast, M., Malakasi, P., de la Estrella, M., Lewis G. P., Klitgård, B. 'Pantropical diversification of padauk trees and relatives was influenced by biome-switching and long-distance dispersal'. (2022)
  Journal of Biogeography. DOI: 10.1111/jbi.14310

  • Featured in J. Biogeog.'s "ECR feature": (https://journalofbiogeographynews.org/2022/03/19/ecr-feature-rowan-schley-on-the-diversification-of-pantropical-trees/)

 

• Schley, R. J., Twyford, A., Pennington, R. T. (2021) 
  'Hybridisation: A 'double-edged sword' for neotropical plant diversity'. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. DOI: 10.1093/botlinnean/boab070

  • Featured as 'most discussed' paper (https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/pages/highly_cited)

 

• Pérez‐Escobar, O.A., Dodsworth, S., Bogarín, D., Bellot, S., Balbuena, J.A., Schley, R.J., Kikuchi, I.A., Morris, S.K., Epitawalage, N., Cowan, R. and Maurin, O (2021). 
  Hundreds of nuclear and plastid loci yield novel insights into orchid relationships. American Journal of Botany. DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1702

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• Kuhnhäuser, B.G., Bellot, S., Couvreur, T.L., Dransfield, J., Henderson, A., Schley, R., Chomicki, G., Eiserhardt, W.L., Hiscock, S.J. and Baker, W.J. (2021)
  'A robust phylogenomic framework for the calamoid palms'. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2020.107067

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• Pérez-Escobar, O.A., Bellott, S., Przelomska, N.A., Flowers, J.M., Nesbitt, M., Ryan, P., Gutaker, R.M., Gros-Balthazard, M., Wells, T., Kuhnhäuser, B.G., Schley, R., et al. (2021). 
  Molecular clocks and archaeogenomics of a Late Period Egyptian date palm leaf reveal introgression from wild relatives and add timestamps on the domestication. Molecular Biology and Evolution. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msab188.
   

• Schley, R. J., Pennington, R. T., Pérez-Escobar, O. A., Helmstetter, A. J., de la Estrella, M., Larridon, I., Sabino Kikuchi, I. A. B., Barraclough, T., Forest, F., Klitgård, B. (2020)
  ‘Introgression across evolutionary scales suggests reticulation contributes to Amazonian tree diversity’ Molecular Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/mec.15616

  • Featured in RBG Kew blog https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/amazon-rainforest-tree-diversity-evolution

 

• Qin, M., Zhu, C.‐J. Yang, J.-B., Vatanparast, M., Schley, R. J., Lai, Q., Zhang, D.‐Y., Tu, T.‐Y., Klitgård, B. B.,  Li, S.-J.,  Zhang, D.‐X. (2020)
  ‘Comparative analysis of complete plastid genome reveals powerful barcode regions for identifying wood of Dalbergia odorifera and D. tonkinensis (Leguminosae)’ Journal of Systematics and Evolution. DOI: 10.1111/jse.12598
   

• Pérez-Escobar, O. A., Bogarín, D., Schley, R. J., Bateman., R, Gerlach, G., Harpke, D., Brassac, J., Fernández-Mazuecos, M., Dodsworth, S., Hagsater, E., Gottschling, M., Blattner, F.  (2019) ‘Resolving relationships in an exceedingly young orchid lineage using Genotyping-by-sequencing data’ Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106672
   

• Schley, R. J., de la Estrella, M., Pérez-Escobar, O. A., Bruneau, A., Barraclough, T., Forest, F., Klitgård, B. (2018)
  ‘Is Amazonia a ‘museum’ for Neotropical trees? The evolution of the Brownea clade (Detarioideae, Leguminosae)’ Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.04.029
   

• Nauheimer, L., Schley, R. J., Clements, M. A., Micheneau, C., Nargar, K. (2018)
  ‘Australasian orchid biogeography at continental scale: molecular phylogenetic insights from the sun orchids (Thelymitra, Orchidaceae)’ Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
  DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.05.031
   

• Murphy, B., de la Estrella, M., Schley, R. J., Forest, F., Klitgård, B. (2017)
  ‘On the Monophyly of Macrolobium Schreb., an Ecologically Diverse Neotropical Tree Genus (Fabaceae-Detarioideae)’ International Journal of Plant Sciences. DOI: 10.1086/695338

 

[in review]

• Schley, R. J. ‘The causes of species hyperdiversity in tropical ecosystems - from reef to rainforest’ Ecology and Evolution (in review)
   

• Bocanegra-Gonzalez, K… Schley, R.J… Dexter, K.G. ‘Dispersal and in-situ speciation have boosted high plant species diversity in the Chocó region: The case of Inga Mill.’ Journal of Biogeography (in review)
   

• Huang, W.,… Schley, R.J.;… Hollingsworth, P. ‘DNA-based Identification of Plants and the Genomic Nature of Plant Species Differences’ Communications Biology (in review)