E. T. Miller

Spatial overlap and phenotypic similarity predict hybridisation in birds

This study identifies phenotypic and spatial factors that predict hybridisation in birds, showing that similarity in traits and range overlap increase hybridisation likelihood.

Molecular early burst associated with the diversification of birds at the K-Pg boundary

The paper identifies a molecular early burst in avian evolution around the K-Pg boundary, linked to shifts in substitution rates and allometric scaling relationships.

Re-assessing niche partitioning in MacArthur's Warblers: foraging behavior, morphology, and diet metabarcoding in a phylogenetic context

This study reassesses niche partitioning in MacArthur's warblers using morphology, foraging behavior, and diet metabarcoding, finding phylogenetic conservation in diet despite niche space partitioning.

The effect of sociality on competitive interactions among birds

The paper examines how sociality affects competitive interactions among birds, finding that social species have lower individual dominance but gain competitive advantage in groups.

Distilling complex evolutionary histories with shiftPlot

The paper introduces shiftPlot, an R package that simplifies phylogenetic comparative data by collapsing clades with identical character states to improve visualization and communication of evolutionary dynamics.

Gut microbiome composition better reflects host phylogeny than diet in breeding wood-warblers

This study shows host phylogeny explains more gut microbiome variation than diet in wood-warblers, suggesting evolutionary history is a stronger predictor than environmental factors.

Analytical guidelines to increase the value of citizen science data: using eBird data to estimate species occurrence

This study improves species distribution estimates from eBird data by refining data processing and addressing biases, showing that complete checklists and effort covariates enhance model performance.

Does variation in glucocorticoid regulation predict fitness? A phylogenetic meta-analysis.

This paper conducts a phylogenetic meta-analysis to assess whether variation in glucocorticoid regulation predicts fitness across vertebrates, finding context-dependent relationships with survival and reproductive success.

Fighting over food unites the birds of North America in a continental dominance hierarchy

The paper constructs a continental-scale interspecific dominance hierarchy of North American birds based on citizen science data and finds it is nearly linear, mostly predicted by body mass with clade-specific deviations.