People

Peter is originally from Ireland were he completed a BSc (Hon) degree in Marine Science at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). He completed his PhD at James Cook University in 2012 on the topic of the evolutionary origins and biogeography of coral reef fishes.

After his PhD he was a Postdoctoral fellow in the Macroevolution and Macroecology group at the Australian National University in Canberra, where he investigated the genetic links between molecular evolution, life history and diversification in plants and animals. In 2014, he was awarded the Donnelley Environmental Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS).

At Yale he worked on the phylogenetic reconstruction of the Fish Tree of Life and using it as a frame work to explore rate variation and biogeography across the largest vertebrate group.

He joined the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in 2016 where he continues to leverage phylogenetic data for fishes and corals to explore their evolutionary history under the Centre Program 2: Ecosystem dynamics: past, present and future.

ResearchOnline @ JCU

ResearchGate

CV

Selected publications

• Cowman, Peter F.,Parravicini, Valeriano, Kulbicki, Michel, and Floeter, Sergio R. (2017) The biogeography of tropical reef fishes: endemism and provinciality through time. Biological Reviews. (In Press)
• Mouillot, D.,Parravicini, V., Bellwood, D.R., Leprieur, F., Huang, D., Cowman, P.F., Albouy, C., Hughes, T.P., Thuiller, W., and Guilhaumon, F. (2016) Global marine protected areas do not secure the evolutionary history of tropical corals and fishes. Nature Communications, 7. pp. 1-8.
• Siqueira, Alexandre C.,Oliveira-Santos, Luiz Gustavo R., Cowman, Peter F., and Floeter, Sergio (2016) Evolutionary processes underlying latitudinal differences in reef fish biodiversity. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25 (12). pp. 1466-1476.
• Leprieur, Fabien,Colosio, Simona, Descombes, Patrice, Parravicini, Valeriano, Kulbicki, Michel, Cowman, Peter F., Bellwood, David R., Mouillot, David, and Pellissier, Loïc (2016) Historical and contemporary determinants of global phylogenetic structure in tropical reef fish faunas. Ecography, 39 (9). pp. 825-835.
• Bellwood, David R.,Goatley, Christopher H.R., Cowman, Peter F., and Bellwood, Orpha (2015) The evolution of fishes on coral reefs: fossils, phylogenies and functions.In: Mora, Camilo, (ed.) Ecology of Fishes on Coral Reefs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 55-63.
• D’agata, Stéphanie,Mouillot, David, Kulbicki, Michel, Andréföuet, Serge, Bellwood, David R., Cinner, Joshua E., Cowman, Peter F., Kronen, Mecki, Pinca, Silvia, and Vigliola, Laurent (2014) Human-mediated loss of phylogenetic and functional diversity in coral reef fishes. Current Biology, 24 (5). pp. 555-560.
• Cowman, Peter F.(2014) Historical factors that have shaped the evolution of tropical reef fishes: a review of phylogenies, biogeography, and remaining questions.Frontiers in Genetics, 5. pp. 1-15.
• Pellissier, Loïc,Leprieur, Fabien, Parravicini, Valeriano, Cowman, Peter F., Kulbicki, Michel, Litsios, Glenn, Olsen, Steffen M., Wisz, Mary S., Bellwood, David R., and Mouillot, David (2014) Quaternary coral reef refugia preserved fish diversity. Science, 344 (6187). pp. 1016-1019.
• Cowman, Peter F., andBellwood, David R. (2013) Vicariance across major marine biogeographic barriers: temporal concordance and the relative intensity of hard versus soft barriers. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 280 (1768). pp. 1-8.
• Cowman, Peter F., andBellwood, David R. (2013) The historical biogeography of coral reef fishes: global patterns of origination and dispersal. Journal of Biogeography, 40 (2). pp. 209-224.
• Mitchell, Matthew D.,Cowman, Peter F., and McCormick, Mark I. (2012) Chemical alarm cues are conserved within the coral reef fish family Pomacentridae. PLoS ONE, 7(10). pp. 1-7.
• Leprieur, Fabien,Albouy, Camille, De Bortoli, Julien, Cowman, Peter F., Bellwood, David R., and Mouillot, David (2012) Quantifying phylogenetic beta diversity: distinguishing between ‘true’ turnover of lineages and phylogenetic diversity gradients. PLoS One, 7 (8). pp. 1-12.
• Cowman, P.F., andBellwood, D.R. (2011) Coral reefs as drivers of cladogenesis: expanding coral reefs, cryptic extinction events, and the development of biodiversity hotspots. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 24 (12). pp. 2543-2562.
• Cowman, Peter Francis(2011) Dating the evolutionary origins of coral reef fishes. PhD thesis, James Cook University.
• Bellwood, D.R.,Klanten, S., Cowman, P.F., Pratchett, M.S., Konow, N., and Van Herwerden, L. (2010) Evolutionary history of the butterflyfishes (f: Chaetodontidae) and the rise of coral feeding fishes. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 23 (2). pp. 335-349.
• Cowman, Peter F.,Bellwood, David R., and van Herwerden, Lynne (2009) Dating the evolutionary origins of wrasse lineages (Labridae) and the rise of trophic novelty on coral reefs. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 52 (3). pp. 621-631.