Papers


Brief research statement

I am an Ecologist and Evolutionary biologist interested in solving long-standing questions in biology using bioinformatic methods applied to large-scale datasets. My research interests range from conservation biology, field ecology to molecular phylogenetics, and biostatistics. I am also interested in fundamental aspects of biology including natural history, taxonomy, and systematics. I have published more than 30 papers on evolutionary biology, conservation biology, ecology, biostatistics, and climate change. Several of my papers were published in the journals PNAS, Proceedings B, Evolution, Journal of Biogeography, Evolution Letters, and Global Ecology and Biogeography. Several have been featured in F1000, Science and many general news outlets including CNN, USA Today, Daily Mail, and The Independent. My research has also attracted the attention of politicians strongly committed to climate change and conservation, and school kids interested in knowing more about biology!

Thanks for visiting my website and reading my papers!

Papers and columns

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# Year Paper Link Coverage
37 2023 Elliot Gould, ... [184 authors]..., Cristian Román-Palacios, ... [68 authors]..., Emily M. Tompkins. 2023. Same data, different analysts: variation in effect sizes due to analytical decisions in ecology and evolutionary biology. EcoEvoRxiv. PDF
36 2023 Yin Wen, Qing Ye, Cristian Román-Palacios, Hui Liu, Guilin Wu. 2023. Physiological cold tolerance evolves faster than climatic niches in plants. Frontiers in Plant Sciences, 14:1257499. PDF
35 2023 Cristian Román-Palacios. 2023. Digest: Unveiling the role of chemical communication in lizard diversification. Evolution:qpad148. PDF
34 2023 Cristian Román-Palacios. 2023. The phruta R package: increasing access, reproducibility, and transparency in phylogenetic analyses. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 14:2284-2299. PDF
33 2022 Xiao-Yu Zhu. Shi-Yang Wu, Yi-Jiao Liu, Yun Bai, Cristian Román-Palacios, Zheng Li, Zhu-Qing He. 2022. Goniurosaurus wangshu sp. nov., a new species of Tiger Gecko from Guangdong, China (Squamata: Eublepharidae) Zootaxa, 5188:544-558. PDF
32 2022 Shi-Yang Wu, Xiao-Yu Zhu, Yi-Jiao Liu, Gustavo Silva De Miranda, Cristian Román-Palacios, Zheng Li, Zhu-Qing He. 2022. A new species of whip spider, Sarax sinensis sp. nov., from Fujian, China (Arachnida: Amblypygi: Charinidae). Zootaxa, 5162:397-409. PDF
31 2022 Cristian Román-Palacios, Daniela Moraga-Lopez, and John J. Wiens. 2022. The origins of global biodiversity on land, sea, and freshwater. Ecology Letters, 25:1376-1386. PDF
30 2021 Cristian Román-Palacios, April Wright, and Josef Uyeda. 2021. treedata.table: a wrapper for data.table that enables fast manipulation of large phylogenetic trees matched to data. PeerJ, 9:e12450. PDF
29 2021 Xiao-Yu, Zhu, Shi-Yang Wu, S. Y., Yi-Juao Liu, Chris R. Reardon, Cristian Román-Palacios, Zheng Li, Zhu-Qing He. 2021. A new species of whip spider, Weygoldtia hainanensis sp. nov., from Hainan, China (Arachnida: Amblypygi: Charinidae). Zootaxa, 5082:65-76. PDF
28 2021 Xiao-Yu Zhu, Yi-Jiao, Liu, Yun, Bai, Cristian Román-Palacios, Zheng Li, Zhu-Qing He. 2021. Goniurosaurus chengzheng sp. nov., a new species of Leopard Gecko from Guangxi, China (Squamata: Eublepharidae). Zootaxa, 996:540–554, 10.11646/zootaxa.4996.3.8. PDF
27 2021 Cristian Román-Palacios, Cesar A. Medina, Shing H. Zhan, Michael S. Barker. 2021. Animal chromosome counts reveal similar range of chromosome numbers but with less polyploidy in animals compared to flowering plants. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 34:1333–1339. PDF
26 2021 Robert N. Ulrich, Maxence Guillermic, Julia Campbell, Abbas Hakim, Rachel Han, Shayleen Singh, Justin D. Stewart, Cristian Román-Palacios, Hannah M. Carroll, Ilian DeCorte, Rosaleen E. Gilmore, Whitney Doss, Aradhna Tripati, Justin B. Ries, Robert A. Eagle. 2021. Patterns of element incorporation in calcium carbonate biominerals recapitulate phylogeny for a diverse range of marine calcifiers. Frontiers in Earth Science, section Geochemistry, 9:641760. PDF
25 2021 Tania Hernández-Hernández, Elizabeth C. Miller, Cristian Román-Palacios, and John J. Wiens. 2021. Speciation across the Tree of Life. Biological Reviews, 96:1205-1242. PDF
24 2021 Elizabeth C. Miller and Cristian Román-Palacios. 2021. Evolutionary time best explains the latitudinal diversity gradient of living freshwater fish diversity. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 30:749-763. PDF
23 2020 Xiao-Yu Zhu, Guang-Yu Chen, Cristian Román-Palacios, Zheng Li, and Zhu-Qing He. 2020. Goniurosaurus gezhi, a new gecko species from Guangxi, China (Squamata: Sauria: Eublepharidae). Zootaxa, 4852:211–222. PDF
22 2020 Cristian Román-Palacios, Yherson Franchesco Molina-Henao, and Michael S. Barker. 2020. Polyploidy increases overall diversity despite higher turnover than diploids in the Brassicaceae. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287:20200962. PDF
21 2020 Cristian Román-Palacios, and John J. Wiens. 2020. Recent responses to climate change reveal the drivers of species extinction and survival. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 117:4211–4217. PDF
20 2019 Cristian Román-Palacios. 2019. Five tips for nailing your US-based graduate-school applications.. Nature, 4:339–347. PDF
19 2019 Cristian Román-Palacios, Joshua Scholl, and John J. Wiens. 2019. Evolution of diet across the Animal Tree of Life. Evolution Letters, 4:339–347. PDF
18 2018 Andreas L. Meyer, Cristian Román-Palacios, and John J. Wiens. 2018. BAMM gives misleading results in simulated and empirical datasets. Evolution, 72:2257–2266. PDF
17 2018 Alfonso N. Garcia-Aldrete, Nancy S. Carrejo, Julian Mendivil, Nadia Calderón, Oscar Saenz, Jefferson Panche, Cristian Román-Palacios, and Ranulfo Obando-Obando. 2018. Checklist of ‘Psocoptera’(Psocodea) of Colombia and identification key to families. Dugesiana, 25:77-103. PDF
16 2018 Cristian Román-Palacios, and John J. Wiens. 2018. The Tortoise and the Finch: testing for island effects on diversification using two iconic Galápagos radiations. Journal of Biogeography, 45:1701–1702. PDF
15 2018 Cristian Román-Palacios, Rosario Castañeda, and Jose Julian Tavera. 2018. When did Anolis lizards diverge? A comparison of multiple dating strategies. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 127:655-668. PDF
14 2018 Cristian Román-Palacios, Jakob Damgaard, Lanna Cheng, Felipe Ferraz Figueiredo Moreirae, Tom A. Weir, and Herbert Zettle. 2018. Molecular phylogeny of sea skaters and their freshwater relatives (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae: Halobatinae). Journal of Insect Systematics and Evolution, 51:139–240. PDF
13 2018 Cristian Román-Palacios, and Alejandro Valencia-Zuleta. 2018. On the Data Deficient amphibians from Colombia. Revista de Biologia Tropical, 66:1272-1281. PDF
12 2017 Cristian Román-Palacios, Yherson Franchesco Molina-Henao, and Ranulfo Gonzalez-Obando. 2017. On the divergence of Psocidae (Psocodea, Psocomorpha): Fossils or biogeography. Boletin del Museo de Entomologia de la Universidad del Valle, 17:37-46. PDF
11 2017 Cristian Román-Palacios, Sara Fernández–Garzón, Alejandro Valencia–Zuleta, Andrés F. Jaramillo–Martínez, and Ronald A. Viáfara–Vega. 2017. Lista anotada de la herpetofauna del departamento del Quindío, Colombia. Biota Colombiana, 18:251-281. PDF
10 2016 Cristian Román-Palacios, Sara Fernández-Garzon, Jenny Johana Gallo-Franco, Alan Giraldo-Lopez, Monica Hernandez-Lopez, and Wilmar Bolivar-Garcia. 2017. Uso de microhábitat por anuros en un fragmento de bosque seco intervenido del Magdalena medio, Guarinocito, Colombia. Boletín Científico Centro De Museos Museo De Historia Natural, 20:181-196. PDF
9 2016 Cristian Román-Palacios, and Cesar Román Valencia. 2017. Dieta y reproducción de Bryconamericus caucanus (Characiformes: Characidae) en La Venada, Río Quindío, Colombia. Revista MVZ Córdoba, 2:1-17. PDF
8 2016 Cristian Román-Palacios, Alfonso Neri García-Aldrete, and Ranulfo Gonzalez Obando. 2016. Historical biogeography of Thyrsophorini psocids and description of a new Neotropical species of Thyrsopsocopsis (Psocodea: Psocomorpha: Psocidae). European Journal of Entomology, 194:1-16. PDF
7 2016 Cristian Román-Palacios, Ranulfo Obando-Gonzalez, and Alfonso Neri Aldrete. 2016. Uncovering the diversity of the neotropical genus Elaphopsocus (‘Psocoptera’: Psocidae: Amphigerontiinae): from one to ten species. Zootaxa, 4162:373-380. PDF
6 2015 Cristian Román-Palacios, and Alfonso N. García Aldrete. 2015. A new Neotropical genus of Blastini (Psocodea:’Psocoptera’: Psocidae: Amphigerontiinae). Zootaxa, 4000:392-396. PDF
5 2015 Daniela Moraga Lopez, and Cristian Román-Palacios. 2015. Information criteria on multimodel selection of parametric regression: Biological applications. Revista Comunicaciones en Estadística, 8:45-57. PDF
4 2015 Cristian Román-Palacios, Ranulfo Gonzalez Obando, and Alfonso Neri Garcia Aldrete. 2015. The genus Elaphopsocus Roesler (Psocodea:’Psocoptera’: Psocidae) with six new species from Brazil and Colombia. Zootaxa, 3957:151–168. PDF
3 2015 Cristian Román-Palacios, and Cesar Román Valencia. 2015. Hábitos tróficos de dos especies sintópicas de carácidos en una quebrada de alta montaña en los Andes de Colombia. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad, 86:1–7. PDF
2 2014 Cristian Román-Palacios, Alfonso Neri García Aldrete, and Ranulfo Gonzalez-Obando. 2014. Elaphopsocoides, a new genus of Psocidae (Psocodea: ’Psocoptera’) from Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Zootaxa, 3873:93–100. PDF
1 2014 Cristian Román-Palacios, Cesar Román Valencia, and Donald C. Taphorn. 2014. Trophic and reproductive ecology of a neotropical characid fish Hemibrycon brevispini (Teleostei: Characiformes). Caldasia, 36:289–304. PDF

Non-peer-reviewed articles

# Year Document Link
2 2017 Cristian Román-Palacios. P-valores, alpha y beta: ¿Cuanto nos equivocamos en Biologia?. Boletin del Posgrado en Ciencias Biologia. Universidad del Valle, 3:24-26. PDF
1 2016 Cristian Román-Palacios. ¿Conservan las áreas protegidas la biodiversidad en Colombia?. Boletin del Posgrado en Ciencias Biologia. Universidad del Valle, 2:79-82. PDF

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