Prof. Dr. Rachel Warnock
Professorship for Systems Paleobiology
Professors
Address
Loewenichstraße 28 91054 Erlangen
Contact
We use data from living and earth systems to understand evolutionary processes at different scales. In particular, we develop and apply phylogenetic tools that model the relationship between the ancestor and descendant species. These tools enable us to combine molecular, morphological, stratigraphic and environmental data in a unified statistical framework. They can be used to recover species relationships and the timing of evolutionary events, as well as the underlying phylodynamic processes, such as speciation and extinction.
No projects found.
Journal Articles
- Nikolic, M.C., Warnock, R., & Hopkins, M.J. (2025). Combining fossil taxa with and without morphological data improves dated phylogenetic analyses. Biology Letters, 21(8). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0205
- Mulvey, L., Nikolic, M.C., Allen, B.J., Heath, T.A., & Warnock, R. (2025). From fossils to phylogenies: exploring the integration of paleontological data into Bayesian phylogenetic inference. Paleobiology, 51(1), 214-236. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2024.47
- Mulvey, L., May, M.R., Brown, J.M., Höhna, S., Wright, A.M., & Warnock, R. (2025). Assessing the Adequacy of Morphological Models Using Posterior Predictive Simulations. Systematic Biology, 74(1), 34-52. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syae055
- Smith, J., Dowding, E., Abdelhady, A.A., Abondio, P., Araújo, R., Aze, T.,... Kießling, W. (2025). Identifying the Big Questions in paleontology: a community-driven project. Paleobiology. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2025.10042
- Matzig, D.N., Marwick, B., Riede, F., & Warnock, R. (2024). A macroevolutionary analysis of European Late Upper Palaeolithic stone tool shape using a Bayesian phylodynamic framework. Royal Society Open Science, 11(8). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240321
- Allen, B.J., Volkova Oliveira, M.V., Stadler, T., Vaughan, T.G., & Warnock, R. (2024). Mechanistic phylodynamic models do not provide conclusive evidence that non-avian dinosaurs were in decline before their final extinction. Cambridge Prisms: Extinction, 2. https://doi.org/10.1017/ext.2024.5
- Calderón del Cid, C., Hauffe, T., Carrillo, J.D., May, M.R., Warnock, R., & Silvestro, D. (2024). Challenges in estimating species' age from phylogenetic trees. Global Ecology and Biogeography. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13890
- Chambe, T., Warnock, R., & Barido-Sottani, J. (2024). The FossilSimShiny app for simulating under the fossilized birth-death process and plotting the results. Paleobiology. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2024.34
- Smith, J.A., Raja, N.B., Clements, T., Dimitrijevic, D., Dowding, E., Dunne, E.,... Kocsis, Á. (2023). Increasing the equitability of data citation in paleontology: capacity building for the big data future. Paleobiology. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2023.33
- Barido-Sottani, J., Pohle, A., De Baets, K., Murdock, D., & Warnock, R. (2023). Putting the F into FBD analysis: tree constraints or morphological data? Palaeontology, 66(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12679
- Barido-Sottani, J., Schwery, O., Warnock, R., Zhang, C., & Wright, A.M. (2023). Practical guidelines for Bayesian phylogenetic inference using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). Open Research Europe, 3. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.16679.1
- Pohle, A., Kroeger, B., Warnock, R., King, A.H., Evans, D.H., Aubrechtova, M.,... Klug, C. (2022). Early cephalopod evolution clarified through Bayesian phylogenetic inference. BMC Biology, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-022-01284-5
- Giles, S., Feilich, K., Warnock, R., Pierce, S.E., & Friedman, M. (2022). A Late Devonian actinopterygian suggests high lineage survivorship across the end-Devonian mass extinction. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01919-4
- Mulvey, L., Warnock, R., & De Baets, K. (2022). Where traditional extinction estimates fall flat: using novel cophylogenetic methods to estimate extinction risk in platyhelminths. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences, 289(1981), 20220432-. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0432
- Andreoletti, J., Zwaans, A., Warnock, R., Aguirre-Fernandez, G., Barido-Sottani, J., Gupta, A.,... Manceau, M. (2022). The Occurrence Birth-Death Process for Combined-Evidence Analysis in Macroevolution and Epidemiology. Systematic Biology. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syac037
- Orr, R.J., Martino, E.D., Ramsfjell, M.H., Gordon, D.P., Berning, B., Chowdhury, I.,... Liow, L.H. (2022). Paleozoic origins of cheilostome bryozoans and their parental care inferred by a new genome-skimmed phylogeny. Science Advances, 8(13), eabm7452-. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm7452
- Wright, A.M., Bapst, D.W., Barido-Sottani, J., & Warnock, R. (2022). Integrating Fossil Observations Into Phylogenetics Using the Fossilized Birth-Death Model. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics, 53, 251-273. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102220-030855
- Barido-Sottani, J., Saupe, E.E., Smiley, T.M., Soul, L.C., Wright, A.M., & Warnock, R. (2020). Seven rules for simulations in paleobiology. Paleobiology, 46(4), 435-444. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2020.30
- Barido-Sottani, J., Van Tiel, N.M.A., Hopkins, M.J., Wright, D.F., Stadler, T., & Warnock, R. (2020). Ignoring Fossil Age Uncertainty Leads to Inaccurate Topology and Divergence Time Estimates in Time Calibrated Tree Inference. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00183
- Warnock, R.C.M., Heath, T.A., & Stadler, T. (2020). Assessing the impact of incomplete species sampling on estimates of speciation and extinction rates. Paleobiology, 46(2), 137-157. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2020.12
- Barido-Sottani, J., Pett, W., O'Reilly, J.E., & Warnock, R.C.M. (2019). FossilSim: An r package for simulating fossil occurrence data under mechanistic models of preservation and recovery. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 10(6), 835-840. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13170
- Barido-Sottani, J., Aguirre-Fernandez, G., Hopkins, M.J., Stadler, T., & Warnock, R.C.M. (2019). Ignoring stratigraphic age uncertainty leads to erroneous estimates of species divergence times under the fossilized birth-death process. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences, 286(1902). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0685
- Eberle, J., Bazzato, E., Fabrizi, S., Rossini, M., Colomba, M., Cillo, D.,... Ahrens, D. (2019). Sex-biased dispersal obscures species boundaries in integrative species delimitation approaches. Systematic Biology, 68(3), 441-459. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syy072
- Silvestro, D., Warnock, R.C.M., Gavryushkina, A., & Stadler, T. (2018). Closing the gap between palaeontological and neontological speciation and extinction rate estimates. Nature Communications, 9(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07622-y
- Hopkins, M.J., Bapst, D.W., Simpson, C., & Warnock, R.C.M. (2018). The inseparability of sampling and time and its influence on attempts to unify the molecular and fossil records. Paleobiology, 44(4), 561-574. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2018.27
- Stadler, T., Gavryushkina, A., Warnock, R.C.M., Drummond, A.J., & Heath, T.A. (2018). The fossilized birth-death model for the analysis of stratigraphic range data under different speciation modes. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 447, 41-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.03.005
- Warnock, R.C.M., Yang, Z., & Donoghue, P.C.J. (2017). Testing the molecular clock using mechanistic models of fossil preservation and molecular evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences, 284(1857). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0227
- Eberle, J., Warnock, R.C.M., & Ahrens, D. (2016). Bayesian species delimitation in Pleophylla chafers (Coleoptera) - The importance of prior choice and morphology. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0659-3
- Eberle, J., Walbaum, W., Warnock, R.C.M., Fabrizi, S., & Ahrens, D. (2015). Asymmetry in genitalia does not increase the rate of their evolution. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 93, 180-187. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2015.08.005
- Warnock, R.C.M., Parham, J.F., Joyce, W.G., Lyson, T.R., & Donoghue, P.C.J. (2015). Calibration uncertainty in molecular dating analyses: There is no substitute for the prior evaluation of time priors. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences, 282(1798). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1013
- Ksepka, D.T., Parham, J.F., Allman, J.F., Benton, M.J., Carrano, M.T., Cranston, K.A.,... Warnock, R.C.M. (2015). The fossil calibration database-A new resource for divergence dating. Systematic Biology, 64(5), 853-859. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syv025
- Joyce, W.G., Parham, J.F., Lyson, T.R., Warnock, R.C.M., & Donoghue, P.C.J. (2013). A divergence dating analysis of turtles using fossil calibrations: An example of best practices. Journal of Paleontology, 87(4), 612-634. https://doi.org/10.1666/12-149
- Warnock, R.C.M., Yang, Z., & Donoghue, P.C.J. (2012). Exploring uncertainty in the calibration of the molecular clock. Biology Letters, 8(1), 156-159. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0710
- Parham, J.F., Donoghue, P.C.J., Bell, C.J., Calway, T.D., Head, J.J., Holroyd, P.A.,... Benton, M.J. (2012). Best practices for justifying fossil calibrations. Systematic Biology, 61(2), 346-359. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syr107
- Ksepka, D.T., Benton, M.J., Carrano, M.T., Gandolfo, M.A., Head, J.J., Hermsen, E.J.,... Parham, J.F. (2011). Synthesizing and databasing fossil calibrations: Divergence dating and beyond. Biology Letters, 7(6), 801-803. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0356
- Clarke, J.T., Warnock, R.C.M., & Donoghue, P.C.J. (2011). Establishing a time-scale for plant evolution. New Phytologist, 192(1), 266-301. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03794.x
Book Contributions
- Warnock, R.C.M. (2015). Molecular clock calibration. In Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. (pp. 576-582). Springer Netherlands.
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