Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

Ecology and Macroevolution
City University of New York (CUNY), New York City, USA
2016-2018

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Ecology and Evolution
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
2016

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Wildlife (Biodiversity) Management
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi GHANA
2014

Master of Science (M.Sc.)

Ecology and Evolution
University of Groningen, Groningen, THE NETHERLANDS
2009

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.)

Natural Resources Management
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi GH
2003

Evolution, Ecology, Phylogenetics, Systematics, Biogeography, Comparative Genomics, Butterflies

BIOL 003 (Life Sciences Non-Majors Biology)

This course is designed as an introductory natural science offering. It is designated as one of the general education course offerings in the College of Arts and Sciences

BIOL 230: Ecology Lec/Lab

Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment. This course provides a background in the fundamental principles of ecological science at the population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels.  Students will acquire a thorough understanding of the scientific field of ecology, how ecologists conduct research, and the importance of general ecological knowledge. Topics include the coevolution of the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere; biogeochemical cycles; the flow of energy and materials through ecosystems; regulation of the abundance and distribution of organisms in an environment; structure and function of ecosystems; trophic dynamics; models of population growth; and species interactions

BIOL 502 Special Topics in Ecology and Evolution

John C Marsden Medal

Given by the Linnaean Society of London in 2017 for the best PhD biology thesis in the UK

Torben Larsen Memorial Tankard Award

Given by the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa (LepSoc) in 2015 for outstanding contributions to African butterfly research

AFORNET Young Scientist Award

A fellowship award given in 2005 by the African Academy of Sciences

UNESCO MAB Young Scientists Award

A research fellowship given in 2005 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 

Eponyms - Lycaenid butterfly

Aslauga kwakui, Libert 2016

Global climate cooling spurred skipper butterfly diversification

Global climate cooling spurred skipper butterfly diversification

Characterizing drivers governing the diversification of species-rich lineages is challenging. Although butterflies are one of the most well-studied groups of insects, there are few comprehensive studies investigating their diversification dynamics. Here, we reconstruct a phylogenomic tree for ca. 1,500 species in the family Hesperiidae, the skippers, to test whether historical global climate change, geographical range evolution, and host-plant association are drivers of diversification. Our findings suggest skippers originated in Laurasia before the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction, in a northern region centered on Beringia before colonizing southern regions coinciding with global climate cooling.

Around the World in 26 Million Years

Around the World in 26 Million Years: Diversification and Biogeography of Pantropical Grass-Yellow Eurema Butterflies (Pieridae: Coliadinae)

Grass-yellow butterflies (Eurema) are a group of pantropical Pieridae distributed throughout Asia, Australasia, Africa and the New World. However, little is known about their diversification, including the biogeographic mechanism(s) explaining their circumglobal distribution. We present the first densely sampled, time-calibrated phylogeny and biogeographic reconstruction of grass-yellows to confirm the monophyly of the genera, re-evaluate their taxonomy and infer the biogeographic events contributing to their worldwide distribution.

Habitat opening fostered diversity

Habitat opening fostered diversity: impact of dispersal and habitat-shifts in the evolutionary history of a speciose afrotropical insect group

To explore the impact of habitat opening, we investigate the evolution of noctuid stemborers, a group of moths mostly associated with open habitats, and whose diversity is centered in the Afrotropics. We generate a dated molecular phylogeny for ca 80% of the known stemborer species, and assess the role of habitat opening on the evolutionary trajectory of the group through a combination of parametric historical biogeography, ancestral character state estimation, life history traits and habitat-dependent diversification analyses. Our results support an origin of stemborers in Southern and East Africa ca 20 million years ago (Ma), with range expansions linked to the increased availability of open habitats to act as dispersal corridors, and closed habitats acting as potent barriers to dispersal.

Comprehensive phylogeny of Pieridae butterflies reveals strong correlation between diversification and temperature

Comprehensive phylogeny of Pieridae butterflies reveals strong correlation between diversification and temperature

Temperature is thought to be a key factor influencing global species richness patterns. We investigate the link between temperature and diversification in the butterfly family Pieridae by combining next generation DNA sequences and published molecular data with fine-grained distribution data. We sampled nearly 600 pierid butterfly species to infer the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the family and curated a distribution dataset of more than 800,000 occurrences. We found strong evidence that species in environments with more stable daily temperatures or cooler maximum temperatures in the warm seasons have higher speciation rates. Furthermore, speciation and extinction rates decreased in tandem with global temperatures through geological time, resulting in a constant net diversification.

A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins

A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins

We sequenced 391 genes from nearly 2,300 butterfly species, sampled from 90 countries and 28 specimen collections, to reconstruct a new phylogenomic tree of butterflies representing 92% of all genera. Our phylogeny has strong support for nearly all nodes and demonstrates that at least 36 butterfly tribes require reclassification.

Phylogeny of the Poritiinae (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), butterflies with ant associations and unusual lichenivorous diets

Phylogeny of the Poritiinae (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), butterflies with ant associations and unusual lichenivorous diets

The Poritiinae are a diverse subfamily of lycaenid butterflies with about 700 species divided into two major groups: the Asian endemic tribe Poritiini, and the African endemic tribe Liptenini. Among these, the Liptenini are notable for their lichenivorous diet and the strong but apparently non-mutualistic ant associations of many species. We present the first molecular phylogeny for this subfamily, based on data from 14 gene regions, and including 218 representatives from 177 taxa (approximately 25% of species) in 50 of the 58 (86%) recognized genera.

Revision of the genus Neptis Fabricius, 1807 (Papilionoidea: Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in the Afrotropical Region, Part 4

Revision of the genus Neptis Fabricius, 1807 (Papilionoidea: Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in the Afrotropical Region, Part 4: The phylogeny of the Nysiades group with eight new species

A multigene phylogenetic hypothesis is presented for the Nysiades group of Afrotropical Neptis species. The tree shows evolutionary relationships  among the 24 currently described species in the group and eight additional new species that are formally described here. The eight new species are  assigned to three subgroups within the Nysiades group based on evidence of their evolutionary affinities. Multiple specimens of each of the novel species  have been barcoded, K2P pairwise genetic distances among these new species further support their status.

Out of Asia

Out of Asia: Intercontinental dispersals after the Eocene-Oligocene transition shaped the zoogeography of Limenitidinae butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

We sampled 181 taxa from 164 species and used a metagenomic method to obtain 40 genes (mitogenomes and three nuclear ribosomal loci) for inferring the historical biogeography of the group. We find that Limenitidinae originated in eastern Asia during the eastern Asia during the early Eocene (ca. 52 Ma) and started to diversify and disperse into Africa before the end of Eocene. Intercontinental exchanges between Africa and eastern Asia continued in the early Miocene: Asian Adoliadini and Asian endemic taxa Bhagadatta had African origins in the Oligocene, whereas African Neptini dispersed in the opposite direction from Asia in the early Miocene.

Miocene climate and habitat change drove diversification in Bicyclus, Africa's largest radiation of satyrine butterflies

Miocene climate and habitat change drove diversification in Bicyclus, Africa's largest radiation of satyrine butterflies

Compared to other regions, the drivers of diversification in Africa are poorly understood. We studied a radiation of insects with over 100 species occurring in a wide range of habitats across the Afrotropics to investigate the fundamental evolutionary processes and geological events that generate and maintain patterns of species richness on the continent.

Is sexual conflict a driver of speciation?

Is sexual conflict a driver of speciation? A case study with a tribe of brush-footed butterflies

In the present study, we use phylogenomics combined with four different diversification rate analytical approaches to test whether sexual conflict is a driver of speciation in brush-footed butterflies of the tribe Acraeini.