Young researcher looking to crack a code in evolution

New Zealander Rich FitzJohn is exploring one of the longstanding mysteries of evolution—why is there so much diversity among species?

“There are over 250,000 species of flowering plants, but fewer than 1,000 species of conifers, despite the similar age of these groups,” says the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship recipient, who is studying zoology at The University of British Columbia. “My research focuses on developing methods for detecting traits that might be drivers of such differences,” he says.

As well, FitzJohn is investigating body size evolution in a number of groups of animals (including primates, whales and vipers) to test long-standing hypotheses of increased rates of diversification in small species as compared to large species.

It’s an area FitzJohn is passionate about and, coming from a small country, he appreciates that Canada’s large research community presents many opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge.

The Vanier funding has allowed FitzJohn to work with researchers at universities from the United States, Spain, United Kingdom and Canada.  As well, he’s become involved in a National Evolutionary Synthesis Center working group that is relevant to his research topic, and has been invited to join another that would make use of his analyses of fossil data. 

“Not only is Canada a great place to study, but receiving the Vanier scholarship has meant I have much more freedom to focus on my research and to work collaboratively with researchers from other institutions in Canada as well as internationally,” says FitzJohn.