Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis

Education and Appointments

Publications

1. May, M. R. & Rothfels, C. J. (2022). Mistreating birth-death models as priors in phylogenetic analysis compromises our ability to compare models. bioRxiv. link.
2. Tribble, C. M., May, M. R., Jackson-Gain, A., Zenil-Ferguson, R., Specht, C. D., & Rothfels, C. J. (2022). Unearthing modes of climatic adaptation in underground storage organs across Liliales. bioRxiv. link.
3. Höhna, S., Freyman, W. A., Nolen, Z., Huelsenbeck, J. P., May, M. R., & Moore, B. R. (2022). A Bayesian approach for estimating branch-specific speciation and extinction rates. bioRxiv. link.
4. Gao, J., May, M. R., Rannala, B. & Moore, B. R. (2022). PrioriTree: a utility for improving phylodynamic analyses in BEAST. bioRxiv. link.
5. Gao, J., May, M. R., Rannala, B. & Moore, B. R. (2022). Model Misspecification Misleads Inference of the Spatial Dynamics of Disease Outbreaks. bioRxiv. link.
6. Gao, J., May, M. R., Rannala, B. & Moore, B. R. (2022). New Phylogenetic Models Incorporating Interval-Specific Dispersal Dynamics Improve Inference of Disease Spread. Molecular Biology and Evolution (), . link.
7. Barido-Sottani, J., Justison, J. A., Borges, Rui., Brown, J. M., Dismukes, W., do Rosario, P., ..., May, M. R. & Heath, T. A. (2022). Lessons learned from organizing and teaching virtual phylogenetics workshops. Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists (), . link.
8. Tribble, C. M., Freyman, W. A., Landis, M. J., Lim, J. Y., Barido-Sottani, J., Kopperud, B. T., Höhna, S. & May, M. R. (2022). RevGadgets: an R Package for visualizing Bayesian phylogenetic analyses from RevBayes. Methods in Ecology and Evolution (), . link.
9. May, M. R., Contreras, D. L., Sundue, M. A., Nagalingum, N. S., Looy, C. V., & Rothfels, C. J. (2021). Inferring the Total-Evidence Timescale of Marattialean Fern Evolution in the Face of Model Sensitivity. Systematic Biology (), . link.
10. Thompson A., May M. R., Moore, B. R. & Kopp A. (2020). A hierarchical Bayesian mixture model for inferring the expression state of genes in transcriptomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117(32), 19339–19346. link.
11. May, M. R. & Moore, B. R. (2020). A Bayesian Approach for Inferring the Impact of a Discrete Character on Rates of Continuous-Character Evolution in the Presence of Background-Rate Variation. Systematic Biology 69(3), 530–544. link.
12. Turelli, M., Cooper, B. S., Richardson, K. M., Ginsberg, P. S., Peckenpaugh, B., Antelope, C. X., ..., May, M. R., ... & Hoffmann, A. A. (2018). Rapid global spread of wRi-like Wolbachia across multiple Drosophila. Current Biology 28(6), 963–971. link.
13. Jiao, Y., Peluso, P., Shi, J., Liang, T., Stitzer, M. C., Wang, B., ..., May, M. R. ,... & Ware, D. (2017). Improved maize reference genome with single-molecule technologies. Nature 546(7659), 524–527. link.
14. May, M. R., S. Höhna, & B. R. Moore (2016). A Bayesian approach for detecting the impact of mass-extinction events on molecular phylogenies when rates of lineage diversification may vary. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 7(8), 947–959. link.
15. Moore, B. R., Höhna, S., May, M. R., Rannala, B. & Huelsenbeck, J. P. (2016). Critically evaluating the theory and performance of Bayesian analysis of macroevolutionary mixtures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 34(113), 9569–9574. link.
16. May, M. R. & Moore, B. R. (2016). How well can we detect lineage-specific diversification-rate shifts? A simulation study of sequential AIC methods. Systematic Biology 6(65), 1076–1084. link.
17. Höhna, S., May, M. R., & Moore, B. R. (2016). TESS: an R package for efficiently simulating phylogenetic trees and performing Bayesian inference of lineage diversification rates. Bioinformatics 32(5), 789–791. link.
18. Magee, A. F., May, M. R., & Moore, B. R. (2014). The dawn of open access to phylogenetic data. PLoS One 9(10), e110268. link.
19. Brandvain, Y., Pauly, G. B., May, M. R., & Turelli, M. (2014). Explaining Darwin’s corollary to Haldane’s rule: the role of mitonuclear interactions in asymmetric postzygotic isolation among toads. Genetics 197(2), 743–747. link.
20. Melters, D. P., Bradnam, K. R., Young, H. A., Telis, N., May, M. R., Ruby, J. G., ... & Chan, S. W. (2013). Comparative analysis of tandem repeats from hundreds of species reveals unique insights into centromere evolution. Genome Biology 14(1), 1–20. link.
21. May, M. R., Provance, M. C., Sanders, A. C., Ellstrand, N. C., & Ross-Ibarra, J. (2009). A Pleistocene clone of Palmer's oak persisting in southern California. PLoS One 4(12), e8346. link.

Presentations

1. May, M. R. and Rothfels, C. J. (2021). Mistreating birth-death models as priors in phylogenetic analysis compromises our ability to compare models. Botanical Society of America Conference. (Invited.)
2. May, M. R., Contreras, D. L., Sundue, M. A., Nagalingum, N. S., Looy, C. V., & Rothfels, C. J. (2021). Inferring the total-evidence timescale of marattialean fern evolution in the face of model sensitivity. Joint Annual Evolution Meeting.
3. May, M. R. & Moore, B. R. (2017). A Bayesian method for inferring discrete-state dependent rates of continuous-trait evolution. Joint Annual Evolution Meeting; Portland, Oregon.
4. May, M. R., Moore, B. R., Höhna, S., Huelsenbeck, J. P., & Rannala, B. (2016). Towards a correct Bayesian method for inferring lineage-specific rates of speciation and extinction. Joint Annual Evolution Meeting; Austin, Texas.
5. May, M. R. (2016). Problems and solutions for inferring lineage-specific rates of speciation and, extinction. Center for Population Biology seminar series; UC Davis.
6. May, M. R. & Moore, B. R. (2014). Inferring lineage-specific rates of continuous-trait evolution. Botanical Society of America Conference; Boise, Idaho.
7. May, M. R. (2013). Mostly Bayesian methods for inferring heterogeneous evolutionary processes across phylogenies. Center for Population Biology seminar series; UC Davis.
8. May, M. R. & Moore, B. R., (2013). Assessing the reliability of MEDUSA using simulation. Joint Annual Evolution Meeting; Snowbird, Utah.

Fellowships and Awards

• UC Davis Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award (2017)
• NSF GRFP Predoctoral Fellowship (2011–2016)

Societies and Service

Society Memberships: Society of Systematic Biologist, Society for the Study of Evolution, Botanical Society of America.

Peer Review for: Systematic Biology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Frontiers Plant Science, Functional Ecology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, PLoS One, Peer J.

Teaching Experience