National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), Paris
About
Photo on home page: Native forest on the oceanic island of Anjouan, Union of the Comoros
Bird collection
MNHN Bird collection database
For all collection-related requests (visits, loans, sampling, etc) an institutional requirement is to use the colhelper website:
Colhelper
Research
Three major ongoing research topics, all of which employ genetics, biogeography and oceanic islands to make inferences:
- Understanding susceptibility to extinction using avian museum specimens and an associated genetic time series that spans environmental changes since first human arrival;
- Understanding the eco-evolutionary dynamics giving rise to variation in bird species abundances using an ecologically neutral model at a community scale;
- Understanding the role of gene flow and ecological gradients in shaping genetic divergence during speciation: the Macaronesian radiation of sea-lavenders (Limonium).
As in my past research, where relevant, I’m also keen for our results to be employed in conservation actions, through publications and collaboration with conservation decision-makers.
Key Project
Project Suscept-Ext: Understanding susceptibility to extinction using historical museum specimens as a genetic time series
Evolutionary history is expected to play a major role in determining which species decline in population size to extinction in response to environmental change, but the processes by which this comes about are poorly understood. Although population genetic studies provide much promise to understand the microevolutionary processes behind macroevolutionary patterns of extinction risk, inferences can be limited by our confidence in the timescales inferred, and by the scale of such studies, which frequently include only one lineage. Here we tackle both of these issues, applying ancient DNA methods to museum (historical & subfossil) samples to obtain a genome-wide time series for eight Mascarene island bird lineages that differ in abundance and other biological traits. Unique features of the Mascarenes permit what is to our knowledge, the first real time assessment of genetic response to anthropogenic environmental changes of known timing and across multiple species following first human presence.
People
Alexander Verry (Postdoctoral Researcher)
Joined the Suscept-Ext project following his PhD in historical DNA investigating response of New Zealand’s avifauna to past climate change. Alex is focussed on demographic analyses, and is carrying out most of the historical DNA lab work.
Nisha Dwivedi (PhD, co-supervision with Stefano Mona and Guillaume Achaz)
Started a PhD relating to the Suscept-Ext project following her Masters comparing variation of innate immune genes between rodent species. Nisha is focussed on analyses inferring island colonisation history, and selection, and in testing for differences in immune gene variation between species.
Shilin He (PhD, Main Supervisor: Tony Robillard)
Project title: Molecular phylogenomics and biogeography of the crickets Eurepini (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Eneopterinae). Shilin is using genome skimming, museum specimens and distributional data to revise our understanding of diversification in an old and ecologically diverse radiation of Australian crickets.
Publications
Bourgeois, Y.X.C., Warren, B. H. and Augiron, S. (accepted) The burden of anthropogenic changes and mutation load in a critically endangered harrier from the Reunion biodiversity hotspot, Circus maillardi. Molecular Ecology.
Wijnhorst, R.E., Janoo, I., Ferret, P., Tatayah, V., Probst, J.M. Florens, F.B.V., Warren, B.H. (2024) Phylogeny and conservation status of Mascarene Aerodramus swiftlets. Ardea 112: 1-24.
He, S., Su, Y.N., Tan, M.K., Zwick, A., Warren, B. H., Robillard, T. (online open). Museomics, molecular phylogeny and systematic revision of the Eurepini crickets (Orthotera: Gryllidae: Eneopterinae), with description of two new genera. Systematic Entomology.
Bourgeois, Y.X.C, and Warren, B. H. (2021) An overview of current population genomics methods for the analysis of whole-genome resequencing data in eukaryotes. Molecular Ecology 30:6063-6071.
Koutroumpa, K., Warren, B.H., Theodoridis, S., Coiro, M., Romeiras, M.M., Jiménez, A., and Conti, E. (2021). Geo-climatic changes and apomixis as major drivers of diversification in the Mediterranean sea lavenders (Limonium Mill.) Frontiers in Plant Science 11: 612258
Hugel, S., Warren, B.H., and Desutter-Grandcolas, L. (2021). The Phalangopsidae crickets (Orthoptera, Grylloidea) of the Seychelles Archipelago: Taxonomy of an ecological radiation Zootaxa 5047 (3), 201-246
Desutter-Grandcolas L., Hugel S., Nel A., Warren B.H., Souza-Dias P. and Chintauan-Marquier Ioana C. (2021) Updated diagnoses for the cricket family Trigonidiidae (Insecta: Orthoptera: Grylloidea) and its subfamilies (Trigonidiinae, Nemobiinae), with a review of the fossil record. Zoologischer Anzeiger 294: 80-91.
Valente, L., Phillimore, A.B., Melo, M., Warren, B.H., Clegg, S.M., Havenstein, K., Tiedemann, R., Illera. J.C., Thébaud, C., Aschenbach, T., Etienne, R.S. (2020) A simple dynamic model explains the diversity of island birds worldwide. Nature, 579: 92-96. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2022-5 [See https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00426-5 for a News & Views summary]
van de Crommenacker. J., Bunbury N., Jackson, H.A., Nupen, L.J., Wanless, R., Fleischer-Dogley, F., *Groombridge, J.J., and *Warren, B.H. (2019). Rapid loss of flight in the Aldabra white-throated rail. PLoS ONE 14(12): e0226064 [*Jointly senior authors]
Warren, B.H., Ricklefs, R.E., Thébaud, C., Gravel, D., and Mouquet, N. (2019). How consideration of islands has inspired mainstream ecology: links between the theory of island biogeography and some other key theories. In: Goldstein, M.I. and DellaSala, D.A. Encyclopedia of the World’s Biomes: Islands and Atolls. Elsevier, Oxford.
Movalli, P., Duke, G., Ramello, G., Dekker, R., Vrezec, A., Shore, R. F., Garcia-Fernandez, A., Wernham, C., Krone, O., Alygizakis, N., Badry, A., Barbagli, F., Biesmeijer, K., Boano, G., Bond, A. L., Choresh, Y., Christensen, J. B., Cincinelli, A., Danielsson, S., Dias, A., Dietz, R., Eens, M., Espin, S., Eulaers, I., Frahnert, S., Fuiz, T. I., Gkotsis, G., Glowacka, N., Gomez-Ramirez, P., Grotti, M., Guiraud, M., Hosner, P., Johansson, U., Jaspers, V. L. B., Kamminga, P., Koschorreck, J., Knopf, B., Kubin, E., Lo Brutto, S., Lourenco, R., Martellini, T., Martinez-Lopez, E., Mateo, R., Nika, M. C., Nikolopoulou, V., Osborn, D., Pauwels, O., Pavia, M., Pereira, M. G., Rudel, H., Sanchez-Virosta, P., Slobodnik, J., Sonne, C., Thomaidis, N., Toepfer, T., Treu, G., Vainola, R., Valkama, J. Van Der Mije, S., Vangeluwe, D., Warren, B. H. and Woog, F. (2019). Progress on bringing together raptor collections in Europe for contaminant research and monitoring in relation to chemicals regulation. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 26, 29503-29505.
Warren, B.H., Hagen, O., Gerber, F., Thébaud, C., Paradis, E., and Conti, E. (2018). Evaluating alternative explanations for an association of extinction risk and evolutionary uniqueness in multiple insular lineages. Evolution 72 (10): 2005-2024.
Warren, B.H. (2018). Messages from Islands: A Global Biodiversity Tour. By Ilkka Hanski. Chicago (Illinois): University of Chicago Press. The Quarterly Review of Biology 93 (3): 284-285.
Kitson, J.J.N, Warren, B.H., Thébaud, C., Strasberg, D., and Emerson, B.C. (2018). Community assembly and diversification in a species-rich radiation of island weevils (Coleoptera: Cratopini). Journal of Biogeography, 45: 2016-2026.
Norder S.J., Proios, K.V., Whittaker, R.J., Alonso, M.R., Borges, P.A.V, Borregaard, M.K., Cowie, R.H., Florens, F.B.V., de Frias Martins, A.M., Ibáñez, M., Kissling, W.D., de Nascimento, L., Otto, R., Parent, C.E., Rigal, F., Warren, B. H., Fernández-Palacios, J.M., van Loon, E.E., Triantis, K.A., and Rijsdijk, K.F. (2018) Beyond the Last Glacial Maximum: island endemism is best explained by long-lasting archipelago configurations. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 28: 184-197.
Koutroumpa, K., Theodoridis, S. Warren, B.H., Jiménez, A., Celep, F., Dogan, M., Romeiras, M.M., Santos Guerra, A., Fernández-Palacios, J.M., Caujapé-Castells, J., Moura, M., de Sequeira, M.M., and Conti, E. (2018) An expanded molecular phylogeny of Plumbaginaceae, with emphasis on Limonium (sea lavenders): taxonomic implications and biogeographic considerations. Ecology and Evolution, 8: 12397-12424.
Desutter-Grandcolas, L., Jacquelin, L., Hugel, S., Boistel, R., Garrouste, R., Henrotay, M., Gu, J.J., Warren, B.H., Chintauan-Marquier, I.C., Grandcolas, P. and Nel, A. (2017) 3-D imaging reveals four extraordinary cases of convergent evolution of acoustic communication in crickets and allies (Insecta). Scientific Reports, 7 (1), 7099.
Hansen, D.M., Austin, J.J., Baxter, R.H., de Boer, E.J., Falcón, W., Norder, S.J., Rijsdijk K.F., Thébaud, C., Bunbury, N.J., and Warren, B.H. (2016) Origins of endemic island tortoises in the western Indian Ocean: A critique of the human-translocation hypothesis. Journal of Biogeography, 44: 1426-1440.
Fuchs, J., Lemoine, D., Parra, J. L., Pons, J. M., Raherilalao, M. J., Prys-Jones, R., Thébaud, C., Warren, B. H., and Goodman, S.M. (2016) Long-distance dispersal and inter-island colonization are the main drivers of diversification in brush-warblers (Passeriformes: Nesillas), a passerine lineage endemic to the western Malagasy region. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 119: 873-889.
Warren, B. H., Baudin, R., Franck, A., Hugel, S., and Strasberg, D. (2016) Predicting where a radiation will occur: acoustic and molecular surveys reveal overlooked diversity in Indian Ocean island crickets (Mogoplistinae: Ornebius). PLoS ONE, 11 (2): e0148971
van der Crommenacker, J., Bourgeois, Y., Warren, B. H., Jackson, H., Fleischer-Dogley, F., Groombridge, J. and Bunbury, N. (2015) Using molecular tools to guide management of invasive alien species: assessing the genetic impact of a recently introduced island bird population. Diversity and Distributions, 21 (12) 1414-1427.
Warren, B.H., Simberloff, D., Ricklefs, R.E., Aguilée , R., Condamine, F.L., Gravel, D., Morlon, H., Mouquet, N., Rosindell, J., Casquet, J., Conti, E., Cornuault, J., Fernández-Palacios, J.M., Hengl, T., Norder, S.J., Rijsdijk, K.F., Sanmartín, I., Strasberg, D., Triantis, K., Valente, L.M., Whittaker, R.J., Gillespie, R.G., Emerson, B.C., and Thébaud, C. (2015) Islands as model systems in ecology and evolution: prospects fifty years after MacArthur-Wilson. Ecology Letters, 18: 200-217.
Cornuault, J., Warren, B. H., Bertrand, J. A. M., Milá, B., Thébaud, C., and Heeb, P. (2013) Timing and number of colonizations but not diversification rates affect diversity patterns in hemosporidian lineages on a remote oceanic archipelago. The American Naturalist 182 (6): 820-833.
Kitson, J. J. N., Warren, B. H., Florens, F. B. V., Baider, C., Strasberg, D. and Emerson, B. C. (2013) Molecular characterisation of trophic ecology within an island radiation of insect herbivores (Curculionidae: Entiminae: Cratopus). Molecular Ecology 22 (21): 5441-5455.
Bristol, R., Fabre, P-H., Irestedt, M., Jonsson, K. A., Warren, B. H., and Groombridge, J. (2013) Molecular phylogeny of the Indian Ocean Terpsiphone paradise flycatchers: undetected evolutionary diversity revealed amongst island populations. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 67: 336-347.
Warren, B. H., Safford, R. J., Strasberg, D. and Thébaud C. (2013) Bird biogeography and evolution in the Malagasy region. In: Safford R. J. and Hawkins A. F. A. Birds of Africa. Volume 8: the Malagasy region. London: Christopher Helm. [A review covering the entire southwest Indian Ocean region, synthesising biogeographic patterns and processes of diversification at multiple spatial scales.]
Warren, B. H., Strasberg, D. and Thébaud C. (2013) Geological history of the region. In: Safford R. J. and Hawkins A. F. A. Birds of Africa. Volume 8: the Malagasy region. London: Christopher Helm.
Warren, B. H., Bermingham, E., Bourgeois, Y., Estep, L. K., Prys-Jones, R. P., Strasberg, D., and Thébaud C. (2012) Hybridization and barriers to gene flow in an island bird radiation. Evolution, 66: 1490-1505.
Cornuault, J., Bataillard, A., Warren, B. H., Lootvoet, A., Mirleau, P., Duval, T., Milá, B., Thébaud, C., and Heeb, P.(2012) The role of immigration and in-situ radiation in explaining blood parasite assemblages in an island bird clade. Molecular Ecology 21: 1438-1452.
Ishtiaq, F., Beadell, J. S., Warren, B. H., and Fleischer, R. C. (2011) Diversity and distribution of avian haematozoan parasites in the western Indian Ocean region: a molecular survey. Parasitology 138: 1-11.
Melo, M., Warren B. H. and Jones P. J. (2011) Rapid parallel evolution of aberrant traits in the diversification of the Gulf of Guinea white-eyes (Aves, Zosteropidae). Molecular Ecology, 20: 4953-4967 (and subject of a perspectives article by R.E. Glor in the same volume of Molecular Ecology).
Warren, B. H., Bakker, F. T., Bellstedt, D. U., Bytebier, B., Claßen-Bockhoff, R., Dreyer, L. L., Edwards, D., Forest, F. Galley, C., Hardy, C. R., Linder, H. P., Muasya, A. M. Mummenhoff, K., Oberlander, K. C. Quint, M., Richardson, J. E.. Savolainen, V., Schrire, B. D. van der Niet, T., Verboom, G. A., Yesson, C. and Hawkins, J. A. (2011) Consistent phenological shifts in the making of a biodiversity hotspot: the Cape flora. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11: 39.
Delatte, H., Holota, H., Warren, B. H., Becker N., Thierry M., and Reynaud B. (2011) Genetic diversity, geographical range and origin of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Indian Ocean Ms. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 101: 487-497.
Rowson, B., Warren, B. H. and Ngereza C. F. (2010) Terrestrial molluscs of Pemba Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania, and its status as an “oceanic” island. Zookeys, 70: 1-39.
Hugel, S., Micheneau, C., Fournel, J, Warren, B. H., Gauvin-Bialecki, A., Pailler, T., Chase, W., Strasberg, D. (2010). Glomeremus species from the Mascarene islands (Orthoptera, Gryllacrididae) with the description of the pollinator of an endemic orchid from the island of Réunion. Zootaxa 2545: 58-68.
Mila, B., Warren, B. H., Heeb, P. and Thébaud, C. (2010) The geographic scale of diversification on islands: genetic and morphological divergence at a very small spatial scale in the Mascarene grey white-eye (Aves: Zosterops borbonicus). BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 158.
Warren, B. H., Strasberg, D., Bruggemann, H., Prys-Jones, R. P., and Thébaud, C. (2010). Why does the biota of the Madagascar region have such a strong Asiatic flavour? Cladistics 26: 526-538.
Micheneau, C., Fournel, J., Warren, B. H., Hugel, S. Gauvin-Bialecki, A., Pailler, T., Strasberg, D., and Chase, M. W. (2010) Orthoptera, a new order of pollinator. Annals of Botany 2545: 58-68. 33.
Thébaud, C. Warren, B. H., Cheke, A. and Strasberg D. (2009) Mascarene Islands, Biology. In: The Encyclopedia of Islands. Gillespie, R.G. and Clague, D.A. (Eds.) Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 34. Beadell, J. S., Ishtiaq, F., Covas, R., Melo, M., Warren, B. H., Atkinson, C. T., Bensch, S., Graves, G. R., Jhala, Y. V., Peirce, M. A., Rahmani, A. R., Fonseca, D. M., and Fleischer, R. C. (2006) Global phylogeographic limits of Hawaii’s avian malaria. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273: 2935-2944.
Warren, B. H., and Hawkins, J. A. (2006) The distribution of species diversity across a flora’s component lineages: dating the Cape’s ‘relicts’. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273: 2149-2158.
Warren, B. H., Bermingham, E., Prys-Jones, R. P., and Thébaud, C. (2006) Immigration, species radiation and extinction in a highly diverse songbird lineage: white-eyes on Indian Ocean islands. Molecular Ecology 15 (12): 3769-3786.
Warren, B. H., Bermingham, E., Prys-Jones, R. P., and Thébaud, C. (2005) Tracking island colonization history and phenotypic shifts in Indian Ocean bulbuls (Hypsipetes: Pycnonotidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 85: 271-287
Warren, B. H., Bermingham, E., Bowie, R. C. K, Prys-Jones, R. P., and Thébaud, C. (2003) Molecular phylogeography reveals island colonization history and diversification of western Indian Ocean sunbirds (Nectarinia: Nectariniidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29: 67-85.
Pailler, T., Warren, B., and Labat, J-N. (2002) Reproductive biology of Aloe mayottensis (Liliaceae), a species endemic to the island of Mayotte (Indian Ocean). Canadian Journal of Botany 80 (4): 340-348.
Warren, B. H., Dale, D. C., Edwards, T. R. K., and Hamilton, P. B. (2001) Effects of shifting cultivation on understorey rainforest butterflies of Sarawak, Borneo. The Sarawak Museum Journal 56 (77): 305-329.
Comba, L., Corbet, S. A., Hunt, L., and Warren, B. (1999) Flowers, nectar and insect visits: evaluating British plant species for pollinator-friendly gardens. Annals of Botany 83: 369-383.
Pople, R. G., Burfield, I. J., Clay, R. P., Cope, D. R., Kennedy, C. P., Lopez Lanus, B., and Warren, B. (1998) Project Ortalis '96: interesting and important results of bird surveys in western Ecuador. Cotinga 8: 59-63.
Gallery
Project Suscept-Ext: Genetic sampling for “time zero”. Step 1 - spotting the bird
The Endangered Mauritius Fody. All Suscept-Ext photo credits: Nisha Dwivedi
Step 2 - Pacing and cutting the mist-net ride
From left to right: Ben, Alex, Darma Beetun - National Parks and Conservation Service, Mauritius
Step 3 - raising the mist-net
Alex in the final stages of setting the net
Step 4 - Catching bird, blood sampling & release
Blood is flash frozen in liquid Nitrogen in order to preserve high molecular weight DNA (~ 15 kb) for long read genome sequencing
Bird community abundance project
Mist-netting team at Jimilimé, Anjouan, Union of the Comoros. From left to right, Ishaka Said (NGO Dahari), Ben, Daindine Allaoui. In the context of an institutional collaboration between the CNDRS-Comoros and MNHN-France, the project builds on experience, data collection and connections initiated over 20 years earlier.