Tyler McCraney
Lecturer - Genetics
I grew up in California and completed my education at City College San Francisco (1999-2002), Cal Poly Humboldt (2003-2009), and UCLA (2012-2019).
Specialty Area
Molecular evolution, macroevolution, ecological genomics, phylogenomics, bioinformatics, computing, data science, marine animals and plant pathogens
Education
PhD in Biology, 2019, UCLA, Dissertation: Phylogeny & Divergence Times of Gobiaria
Courses Taught
Genetics
Intro Ecology & Behavior
Evolutionary Applications in Conservation
Evolution
Evolutionary Medicine
Research
Tyler is a Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences and a Research Associate in the Departments of Fisheries Biology and Forestry Wildland Resources with additional support from IBM Power Systems Academic Initiative. His research involves the use of population genomic and phylogenetic comparative methods on ‘big’ data generated via whole-genome (re)sequencing and mining of public bioinformatic and biodiversity databases to explain the ecology and evolution of marine animals and fungal-like plant pathogens. He is especially interested in understanding how rates of molecular, phenotypic, and species evolution vary over eco-geological timescales with respect to mutualisms, climate change, and conservation.
Research link
Publications
Ghezelayagh A, Harrington RC, Burress ED, Campbell MA, Buckner JC, Chakrabarty P, Glass JR, McCraney WT, Unmack PJ, Thacker CE, Alfaro ME, Friedman ST, Ludt WB, Cowman PF, Friedman M, Price SA, Dornburg A, Faircloth BC, Wainwright PC, Near TJ (2022) Prolonged morphological expansion of spiny-rayed fishes following the end-Cretaceous. Nature Ecology and Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01801-3. de Brito V, Betancur-R R, Burns MD, Buser TJ, Conway KW, Fontenelle JP, Kolmann MA, McCraney WT, Thacker CE, Bloom DD (2022) Patterns of phenotypic evolution associated with marine/freshwater transitions in fishes. Integrative and Comparative Biology, icac085. Thacker CE, Shelley J, McCraney WT, Adams M, Hammer MP, Unmack P (2022) Phylogeny, diversification, and biogeography of a hemiclonal hybrid system of native Australian freshwater fishes (Gobiiformes: Gobioidei: Eleotridae: Hypseleotris). BMC Ecology and Evolution, 22, 1-23. Thacker CE, Shelley J, McCraney WT, Unmack P, McGee M (2021) Delayed adaptive radiation among New Zealand stream fishes: joint estimation of divergence time and trait evolution in a newly delineated island species flock. Systematic Biology, https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syab014. McCraney WT, Thacker CE, Alfaro ME (2020) Supermatrix phylogeny resolves goby lineages and reveals unstable root of Gobiaria. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 151, 106862.
