Dr Keaghan Yaxley
Dr

Keaghan Yaxley

Email: 

Background

I am a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Queensland working on a project co-supervised with Prof Diana Fisher. My background is in macroevolution and macroecology, phylogenetic inference and comparative methods and incorporating evolutionary history into conservation planning. I completed my PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2023 before working as a researcher at the Australian National University and as a quantitative ecologist in local government. In my current role I will be using comparative methods and quantitative modelling to investigate the evolutionary drivers of semelparity in animals.

Availability

Dr Keaghan Yaxley is:
Available for supervision

Qualifications

  • Bachelor (Honours) of Zoology, Australian National University
  • Masters (Research) of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge
  • Doctor of Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology, University of Cambridge

Research interests

  • Life History Evolution

    Life history encapsulates the evolutionary trade-offs species make between development, survival and reproduction. I work on the evolution of an extreme life history strategy, semelparity or reproducing only once in a lifetime. These species forgo all future survival and instead put all their efforts into a single bout of reproduction. Famous Australian examples include the Antechinus and the redback spider. Using a dynamic modelling approach, my work seeks to understand the forces that facilitate the evolution of such extreme life history strategies.

  • Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity

    I am particularly interested in projects exploring phylogenetic and spatial patterns of phylogenetic and functional diversity. Phylogenetic diversity describes the amount of evolutionary history represented by an assemblage of species, while functional diversity describes the disparity of the ecological roles of those species. Mapping these two facets of biodiversity and understanding how they relate to one another not only allows us to identify areas of exceptional conservation value, but it also helps us understand historical patterns in species diversification and adaptation. For prospective students, projects related to phylogenetic and functional diversity give you the opportunity to ask big fundamental questions about macroevolution and macroecology, while also being applicable to conservation science.

  • Phylogenetic Tree Shape

    Diversity is not distributed evenly across the Tree of Life. Some deep branches are heavy with species, while others are very thin. This is evidence that the rate of diversification, the rate at which new species form, minus the rate at which they go extinct, is uneven between different groups of organisms. Phylogenetic trees are our attempts to reconstruct the Tree of Life, and many major macroevolutionary events (e.g. mass extinctions, radiations and adaptive transitions) are hypothesised to leave their mark on the shape of these trees.

  • Galactic Phylogenetics

    I work with an international team of evolutionary biologists, mathematicians, and astronomers to develop novel phylogenetic approaches for understanding the evolution of galaxies. Specifically, we use the chemical composition of stars - data sourced using Astronomical spectroscopy - to understand how a galaxy's interstellar medium (ISM), which is the dust and gas from which all stars are born, has changed through time. There is a staggering amount of spectrography data being published these days, thanks to space telescopes like GAIA, meaning this is an excellent opportunity for students looking to do interdisciplinary projects.

Search Professor Keaghan Yaxley’s works on UQ eSpace

11 works between 2019 and 2025
All (11) Journal Article (11)

1 - 11 of 11 works

2025

Journal Article

Macroevolutionary analysis of polysynthesis shows that language complexity is more likely to evolve in small, isolated populations

Bromham, Lindell, Yaxley, Keaghan, Wilson, Oscar and Hua, Xia (2025). Macroevolutionary analysis of polysynthesis shows that language complexity is more likely to evolve in small, isolated populations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 122 (24) e2504483122, 1-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2504483122

Macroevolutionary analysis of polysynthesis shows that language complexity is more likely to evolve in small, isolated populations

2024

Journal Article

Islands are engines of language diversity

Bromham, Lindell, Yaxley, Keaghan J. and Cardillo, Marcel (2024). Islands are engines of language diversity. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 8 (10), 1991-2002. doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02488-4

Islands are engines of language diversity

2024

Journal Article

Can cyclone exposure explain behavioural and demographic variation among lemur species?

Behie, Alison M., Steffens, Travis S., Yaxley, Keaghan, Vincent, Alan, Wright, Patricia C., Johnson, Steig E. and Pavelka, Mary S. M. (2024). Can cyclone exposure explain behavioural and demographic variation among lemur species?. PLoS One, 19 (3) e0300972, 1-17. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300972

Can cyclone exposure explain behavioural and demographic variation among lemur species?

2024

Journal Article

On the evolutionary history of a simulated disk galaxy as seen by phylogenetic trees

Silva, Danielle de Brito, Jofre, Paula, Tissera, Patricia B., Yaxley, Keaghan J., Jara, Jenny Gonzalez, Eldridge, Camilla J. L., Sillero, Emanuel, Yates, Robert M., Hua, Xia, Das, Payel, Aguilera-Gomez, Claudia, Johnston, Evelyn J., Rojas-Arriagada, Alvaro, Foley, Robert and Gilmore, Gerard (2024). On the evolutionary history of a simulated disk galaxy as seen by phylogenetic trees. Astrophysical Journal, 962 (2) 154, 154. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad036a

On the evolutionary history of a simulated disk galaxy as seen by phylogenetic trees

2024

Journal Article

Assembling a high-precision abundance catalogue of solar twins in GALAH for phylogenetic studies

Walsen, Kurt, Jofre, Paula, Buder, Sven, Yaxley, Keaghan, Das, Payel, Yates, Robert M., Hua, Xia, Signor, Theosamuele, Eldridge, Camilla, Rojas-Arriagada, Alvaro, Tissera, Patricia B., Johnston, Evelyn, Aguilera-Gomez, Claudia, Zoccali, Manuela, Gilmore, Gerry and Foley, Robert (2024). Assembling a high-precision abundance catalogue of solar twins in GALAH for phylogenetic studies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 529 (3), 2946-2966. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stae280

Assembling a high-precision abundance catalogue of solar twins in GALAH for phylogenetic studies

2023

Journal Article

Functional endemism captures hotspots of unique phenotypes and restricted ranges

Skeels, Alexander and Yaxley, Keaghan J. (2023). Functional endemism captures hotspots of unique phenotypes and restricted ranges. Ecography, 2023 (12) e06913, 1-4. doi: 10.1111/ecog.06913

Functional endemism captures hotspots of unique phenotypes and restricted ranges

2023

Journal Article

Global variation in the relationship between avian phylogenetic diversity and functional distance is driven by environmental context and constraints

Yaxley, Keaghan J., Skeels, Alexander and Foley, Robert A. (2023). Global variation in the relationship between avian phylogenetic diversity and functional distance is driven by environmental context and constraints. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 32 (12), 2122-2134. doi: 10.1111/geb.13762

Global variation in the relationship between avian phylogenetic diversity and functional distance is driven by environmental context and constraints

2023

Journal Article

Neighbours and relatives: accounting for spatial distribution when testing causal hypotheses in cultural evolution

Bromham, Lindell and Yaxley, Keaghan J. (2023). Neighbours and relatives: accounting for spatial distribution when testing causal hypotheses in cultural evolution. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 5 e27, e27. doi: 10.1017/ehs.2023.23

Neighbours and relatives: accounting for spatial distribution when testing causal hypotheses in cultural evolution

2021

Journal Article

Using heritability of stellar chemistry to reveal the history of the Milky Way

Jackson, Holly, Jofre, Paula, Yaxley, Keaghan, Das, Payel, Silva, Danielle de Brito and Foley, Robert (2021). Using heritability of stellar chemistry to reveal the history of the Milky Way. Royal Astronomical Society. Monthly Notices, 502 (1), 32-47. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa4028

Using heritability of stellar chemistry to reveal the history of the Milky Way

2021

Journal Article

Phylogenetic diversity metrics from molecular phylogenies: modelling expected degree of error under realistic rate variation

Ritchie, Andrew M., Hua, Xia, Cardillo, Marcel, Yaxley, Keaghan J., Dinnage, Russell and Bromham, Lindell (2021). Phylogenetic diversity metrics from molecular phylogenies: modelling expected degree of error under realistic rate variation. Diversity and Distributions, 27 (1), 164-178. doi: 10.1111/ddi.13179

Phylogenetic diversity metrics from molecular phylogenies: modelling expected degree of error under realistic rate variation

2019

Journal Article

Reconstructing the ancestral phenotypes of great apes and humans (Homininae) using subspecies-level phylogenies

Yaxley, Keaghan J. and Foley, Robert A. (2019). Reconstructing the ancestral phenotypes of great apes and humans (Homininae) using subspecies-level phylogenies. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 128 (4) blz140, 1021-1038. doi: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz140

Reconstructing the ancestral phenotypes of great apes and humans (Homininae) using subspecies-level phylogenies

Availability

Dr Keaghan Yaxley is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

Enquiries

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