Milá Borja

Investigación

En mi grupo estudiamos los procesos evolutivos que generan y mantienen la biodiversidad. Utilizamos datos fenotípicos, genéticos y genómicos para explorar patrones de variación geográfica a varias escalas espaciales y revelar patrones de flujo génico entre poblaciones, reconstruir las relaciones filogenéticas entre linajes, e inferir los factores históricos y selectivos que generan divergencia poblacional y la formación de nuevas especies. También exploramos la base genética de los caracteres importantes en el proceso de especiación a través de la genómica comparada y utilizamos genomas completos para identificar regiones bajo selección natural y encontrar genes candidatos asociados. Estudiamos principalmente especies de aves de zonas tropicales o subtropicales, con énfasis en radiaciones recientes tanto en islas como en continentes. Otras áreas de interés incluyen biogeografía de islas, ecomorfología, bioacústica, sistemática y conservación.

In my group we study the evolutionary processes that generate and maintain biodivesity. We use phenotypic, genetic and genomic data to explore geographic patterns of variation at various spatial scales to infer patterns of gene flow among populations, reconstruct phylogenetic relationships among evolutionary lineages, and identify the selective and historical factors that drive population divergence and the formation of new species. We also explore the genetic basis of fitness traits important in the process of speciation through comparative genomics, using whole genomes of our target species to identify regions under natural selection and find associated candidate genes. We study mainly avian species in tropical and subtropical regions, with an emphasis on recent radiation on islands and continents. Other areas of interest include island biogeography, ecomorphology, bioacoustics, systematics and conservation biology.

Miembros del Grupo / Group members

María Recuerda, Contratada Postoctoral - Procesos de diversificación de aves en islas y base genética de la adaptación en poblaciones insulares del pinzón vulgar (Fringilla coelebs).

Javier Sala, Contratado Predoctoral FPI - Base genómica y demografía de radiaciones aviares recientes.

Bárbara Freitas, Contratada Predoctoral FCT - Portugal (co-dirigida con Christophe Thébaud) - Evolución del canto y su función en procesos de especiación en aves.

Andrea Lirola, Contratada Predoctoral FPU - Ecología y genómica de aves en islas oceánicas.

Miguel Fernández Janoher, Contratado FPI - Adaptación local y especiación en aves de islas oceánicas.

Publicaciones relevantes

Para una lista completa de publicaciones pulsar aquí.

Publicaciones en Google Scholar

Publicaciones en Scopus

Friis, G., J. Vizueta, E. Ketterson, B. Milá. 2022. A high-quality genome assembly and annotation of the dark-eyed junco Junco hyemalis, a recently diversified songbird. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 12(6): jkac083.

Friis, G, J. W. Atwell, A. M. Fudickar, T. J. Greives, P. J. Yeh, T. D. Price, E. D. Ketterson, B. Milá. 2022. Rapid evolutionary divergence of a songbird population following recent colonization of an urban area. Molecular Ecology, 31(9): 2625-2643.

Recuerda, M., J. C. Illera, G. Blanco, R. Zardoya, B. Milá. 2021. Sequential colonization of oceanic archipelagos led to a species-level radiation in the common chaffinch (Aves: Fringilla coelebs). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 165:107291. PDF

Milá, B., J. Bruxaux, G. Friis, K. Sam, H. Ashari, C. Thébaud. 2021. A new, undescribed species of Melanocharis berrypecker from western New Guinea and the evolutionary history of the family Melanocharitidae. Ibis, 163(4):1310-1329. PDF

Benítez-López, A., L. Santini, J. Gallego-Zamorano, B. Milá, P. Walkden, M. A. J. Huijbregts, J. A. Tobias. 2021. The island rule explains consistent patterns of body size evolution across terrestrial vertebrates. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5:768-786.

Recuerda, M.*, J. Vizueta*, C. Cuevas-Caballé, G. Blanco, J. Rozas, B. Milá. 2021. Chromosome-level genome assembly of the common chaffinch (Aves: Fringilla coelebs): a valuable resource for evolutionary biology. Genome Biology and Evolution, 13(4):evab34. PDF

Friis, G. and B. Milá. 2020. Change in sexual signaling traits outruns morphological divergence in a recent avian radiation across an ecological gradient. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 33(9):1276-1293.

Bourgeois, Y., J. Bertrand, B. Delahaie, H. Holota, C. Thébaud*, B. Milá*. 2020. Local adaptation and sexual selection drive intra-island diversification in a songbird lineage: differential divergence in autosomes and sex chromosomes. Molecular Ecology, 29:1137–1153. *: senior co-authors.

Gabrielli M., B. Nabholz, T. Leroy, B. Milá*, C. Thébaud*. 2020. Within-island diversification in a passerine bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287:20192999. *: senior co-authors.

Abolins-Abols, M., E. Kornobis, P. Ribeca, K. Wakamatsu, M. P Peterson, E. Ketterson, B. Milá. 2018. A role for differential gene regulation in the rapid diversification of melanic plumage coloration in the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis). Molecular Ecology, 27:4501-4515.

Friis, G., G. Fandos, A. Zellmer, J. McCormack, B. Faircloth, B. Milá. 2018. Genome-wide signals of drift and local adaptation during rapid lineage divergence in a songbird. Molecular Ecology, 27:5137-5153.

Friis, G., P. Aleixandre, R. Rodríguez-Estrella, A. Navarro-Sigüenza, B. Milá. 2016. Rapid postglacial diversification and long-term stasis within the songbird genus Junco: phylogeographic and phylogenomic evidence. Molecular Ecology, 25: 6175–6195.

Bertrand, J. A. M., B. Delahaie, Y. X. C. Bourgeois, T. Duval, R. García-Jiménez, J. Cornuault, B. Pujol, C. Thébaud, B. Milá. 2016. The role of selection and historical factors in driving population differentiation along an elevational gradient in an island passerine bird. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 29:824-836.

Alvarez, S., J. F. Salter, J. E. McCormack, B. Milá. 2015. Speciation in mountain refugia: phylogeography and demographic history of the pine siskin and black-capped siskin complex. Journal of Avian Biology, 47:335-345.

Milá, B., E. S. Tavares, A. Muñoz Saldaña, T. B. Smith, J. Karubian, A. J. Baker. 2012. A trans-Amazonian screening of mtDNA reveals deep intraspecific divergence in forest birds and suggests a vast underestimation of species diversity. PLoS ONE 7(7): e40541. PDF

Milá, B., B. H. Warren, P. Heeb, C. Thébaud. 2010. The geographic scale of diversification on islands: genetic and morphological divergence at a very small spatial scale in the Mascarene grey white-eye (Aves: Zosterops borbonicus). BMC Evolutionary Biology 10:158. PDF

Milá, B., S. Carranza, O. Guillaume and J. Clobert. 2010. Marked genetic structuring and extreme dispersal limitation in the Pyrenean brook newt Calotriton asper (Amphibia: Salamandridae) revealed by genome-wide AFLP but not mtDNA. Molecular Ecology 19:108-120.

Milá, B., R. K. Wayne, P. S. Fitze and T. B. Smith. 2009. Divergence with gene flow and fine-scale phylogeographic structure in the wedge-billed woodcreeper Glyphorynchus spirurus, a Neotropical rainforest bird. Molecular Ecology 18:2979-2995.

Milá, B., J. E. McCormack, G. Castañeda, R. K. Wayneand T. B. Smith. 2007. Recent postglacial range expansion drives the rapid diversification of a songbird lineage in the genus Junco. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 274:2653-2660.

Milá, B., T. B. Smith and R. K. Wayne. 2007. Speciation and rapid phenotypic differentiation in the yellow-rumped warbler (Dendroica coronata) complex. Molecular Ecology 16:159-173.

Milá, B., T. B. Smith, R. K. Wayne. 2006. Postglacial population expansion drives the evolution of long-distance migration in a songbird. Evolution 60(11):2403-2409.

Milá, B., D.J. Girman, M. Kimura, T.B. Smith. 2000. Genetic evidence for the effect of a post-glacial population expansion on the phylogeography of a North American songbird. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 267:1033-1040.

Proyectos de investigación

• Phylogeography, genomics, ecomorphology and speciation in the North American bird genus Junco. Collaborators: Guillermo Friis (NYU AbuDhabi), Ellen Ketterson and Jonathan Atwell (Indiana University), Adolfo Navarro (UNAM), John McCormack (Occidental College), Robert Wayne (UCLA). More information here.

• Diversification of the common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) in the Canary Islands. Collaborators: María Recuerda, Guillermo Blanco, Oscar Frías, Juan Carlos Illera.

• Diversification mechanisms of the Mascarene gray white-eye (Zosterops borbonicus) on the islands of Reunion and Mauritius. Collaborators: Christophe Thébaud and Philipp Heeb, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France. More information here.

• Speciation in the yellow-rumped warbler complex (Setophaga coronata) in North and Central America. Collaborators: Allan Brelsford, David Toews and Darren Irwin, Univ. of British Columbia, Canada. More information here.

• Population divergence, speciation mechanisms and species limits in Amazonian rainforest birds. Collaborators: Javier Pérez-Tris, Christophe Thébaud, CNRS-Guyane, France. More information here.

Fotos: Borja Milá

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