Dr. Joshua Peñalba

Publications

Cockburn, A., Joshua V Peñalba, Damian Jaccoud, Andrzej Kilian, Lyanne Brouwer, Michael C. Double, Nicolas Margraf, Helen L. Osmond, Loeske E B Kruuk, Martijen van de Pol (2021). hiphop: Improved paternity assignment among close relatives using a simple exclusion method for biallelic markers. Molecular Ecology Resources.

Peñalba, Joshua V, Jochen J.B. Wolf (2020) “From molecules to populations: appreciating and estimating recombination rate variation” Nature Reviews Genetics 1-17

Peñalba, Joshua V, Yuan Deng, Qi Fang, Leo Joseph, Craig Moritz, Andrew Cockburn (2020) “Genome of an iconic Australian bird: Chromosome-scale assembly and linkage map of the superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus)” Molecular Ecology Resources 20 (2), 560-578 

Keighley, Miles V, Naomi E Langmore, Joshua V Peñalba, Robert Heinsohn. (2020) “Modelling dispersal in a large parrot: a comparison of landscape resistance models with population genetics and vocal dialect patterns” Landscape Ecology 35, 129–144 

Peñalba, Joshua V, Leo Joseph, Craig Moritz. (2019) “Current geography masks dynamic history of gene flow during speciation in northern Australian birds” Molecular Ecology doi: 10.1111/mec.14978 

Keighley, Miles V, Robert Heinsohn, Naomi E Langmore, Stephen A Murphy, & Joshua V Peñalba (2019) “Genomic population structure aligns with vocal dialects in Palm Cockatoos (Probosciger aterrimus); evidence for refugial late-Quaternary distribution?” Emu – Austral Ornithology, 119(1), 24-37. 

Peñalba, Joshua V, Ian J Mason, Richard Schodde, Craig Moritz, Leo Joseph. (2017) “Characterizing divergence through three adjacent Australian avian transition zones” Journal of Biogeography, 44 (10), 2247-2258 

McEntee, Jay P, Joshua V Peñalba, Chacha Werema, Elia Mulungu, Maneno Mbilinyi, David Moyer, Louis Hansen, Jon Fjeldså, Rauri CK Bowie. (2016) “Social selection parapatry in an Afrotropical sunbird” Evolution, 70 (6), 1307-1321 

Voelker, Gary, Jerry W Huntley, Joshua V Peñalba, Rauri C.K. Bowie (2016) “Resolving taxonomic uncertainty and historical biogeographic patterns in Muscicapa flycatchers and their allies” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 94: 618-625 

Schweizer, Manuel, Timothy F Wright, Joshua V Peñalba, Erin E Schirtzinger, Leo Joseph. (2015) “Molecular phylogenetics suggests a New Guinean origin and frequent episodes of founder-event speciation in the nectarivorous lories and lorikeets (Aves: Psittaciformes)” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 90 : 34-48 

Peñalba, Joshua V, Lydia L Smith, Maria A Tonione, Chodon Sass, Sarah M Hykin, Phillip L Skipwith, Jimmy A McGuire, Rauri CK Bowie, and Craig Moritz. (2014) “Sequence capture using PCR‐generated probes: a cost‐effective method of targeted high‐throughput sequencing for nonmodel organisms.” Molecular Ecology Resources. 14(5), 1000-1010. 

Voelker, Gary, Joshua V Peñalba, Jerry W Huntley, and Rauri CK Bowie. (2014) “Diversification in an Afro-Asian songbird clade (Erythropygia–Copsychus) reveals founder-event speciation via trans-oceanic dispersals and a southern to northern colonization pattern in Africa.” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 73 : 97-105. 

Education and professional appointments

2021 – present: Research scientist; Center for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery; Museum für Naturkunde

2017 – 2020: Postdoctoral Researcher; Division of Evolutionary Biology; Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität München. PI: Prof. Jochen Wolf

2013 – 2017: PhD Candidate; Research School of Biology, Australian National University (ANU); Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).  Advisors: Prof. Craig Moritz & Dr. Leo Joseph

2008 – 2013: B.A. Integrative Biology (Hons); University of California, Berkeley. Advisor: Prof. Rauri Bowie

Tasks

Researcher in Museomics

Research

My research aims to understand the mechanisms and evolutionary processes underlying population divergence and speciation. I use genomics as a tool to research this process and take a comparative approach by studying multiple systems at various stages of speciation. One of my current focuses is understanding how both genomic and geographic landscape influence divergence across the genome during speciation. The main themes of my research group include speciation, population genomics, biogeography, genome evolution and hybridization. My position at the MfN focuses on developing and optimizing methods to extract historic DNA from museum specimens of various taxonomic groups. I am also broadly interested in molecular method development in museomics and high-throughput sequencing for population and evolutionary genomics. 

Publications (selection)

Peñalba, Joshua V, Jochen J.B. Wolf (2020) “From molecules to populations: appreciating and estimating recombination rate variation” Nature Reviews Genetics 1-17

Peñalba, Joshua V, Yuan Deng, Qi Fang, Leo Joseph, Craig Moritz, Andrew Cockburn (2020) “Genome of an iconic Australian bird: Chromosome-scale assembly and linkage map of the superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus)” Molecular Ecology Resources 20 (2), 560-578 

Peñalba, Joshua V, Leo Joseph, Craig Moritz. (2019) “Current geography masks dynamic history of gene flow during speciation in northern Australian birds” Molecular Ecology doi: 10.1111/mec.14978 

Peñalba, Joshua V, Lydia L Smith, Maria A Tonione, Chodon Sass, Sarah M Hykin, Phillip L Skipwith, Jimmy A McGuire, Rauri CK Bowie, and Craig Moritz. (2014) “Sequence capture using PCR‐generated probes: a cost‐effective method of targeted high‐throughput sequencing for nonmodel organisms.” Molecular Ecology Resources. 14(5), 1000-1010.