Michela Leonardi

geoGraph: Connectivity modelling across geographic space with hexagonal discrete global grids

geoGraph models organism movement and connectivity across geographic space using hexagonal grids, improving accuracy over rectangular grids by avoiding distortion.

From margins to mainstream: restoration of riparian margins to support oil palm sustainability in modern and future climates

The paper evaluates active vs passive riparian restoration in oil palm plantations, finding active restoration provides better thermal stability and microhabitat diversity under current and future climates.

Climate Shaped the Global Population Structure of Leopards and their Extinction in Europe

This study uses climate and genetic data to show that climate change shaped leopard population dynamics, leading to extinction in Europe and structuring populations in Asia and Africa.

tidygenclust: Clustering for Population Genetics in R

tidygenclust provides an R package for population genetics clustering, integrating ADMIXTURE, fastmixture, and Clumppling with improved workflow and visualisation.

A 20+ Ma old enamel proteome from Canada's High Arctic reveals diversification of Rhinocerotidae in the middle Eocene-Oligocene

This paper retrieves ancient enamel protein sequences from a 21-24 Ma rhinocerotid, providing new phylogenetic insights into Rhinocerotidae diversification during the middle Eocene-Oligocene.

Malaria shaped human spatial organisation for the last 74 thousand years

The paper estimates malaria transmission risk in sub-Saharan Africa over 74 kya and shows humans avoided malaria hotspots, shaping demography and population structure.

Pan-African metapopulation model explains Homo sapiens genetic and morphological evolution

The paper models Homo sapiens evolution as a Pan-African metapopulation, showing how climate and connectivity shaped genetic and morphological diversity over 200,000 years.

The environmental context of the Middle-to-Late Stone Age Transition in eastern Africa: seasonality as a key factor

The paper links changes in stone tool attributes during the Middle-to-Late Stone Age transition in eastern Africa to climatic seasonality, showing a correlation between tool size and shape with environmental variability.

The Acheulean niche: climate and ecology predict handaxe production in Europe

This study links Acheulean handaxe production in Europe to specific climate and ecological conditions, showing associations with winter temperatures and precipitation patterns.

Climate and mountains shaped human ancestral genetic lineages

This paper models the impact of climate and terrain on human ancestral genetic lineages, showing that these factors explain lineage divergence and migration patterns.