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Dr. Chyiyin Gwee

Postdoctoral Researcher

Key words

Population Genomics, Speciation, Paleogenomics

E-Mail

Address

Department of Biodiversity Monitoring
Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde
Museum am Löwentor
Rosenstein 1
70191 Stuttgart
Germany

Research interest 

I am broadly interested in the mechanisms driving speciation and the role of biogeography in shaping biodiversity. My previous research includes investigating the biogeography of various Australasian species using bioacoustics and genetics, as well as the evolutionary dynamics of the European hybrid zone between carrion and hooded crows. Using both contemporary and ancient DNA, some dating back more than 20,000 years, we investigated how plumage coloration remains remarkably stable despite climate-induced gene flow between these two taxa.
My research integrates evolutionary biology and paleogenomics to understand how species boundaries are maintained over time in the face of climate change. By combining spatial and temporal genomic approaches, I aim to deepen our understanding of how biodiversity evolves and persists across dynamic landscapes.
In the Biodiversity Monitoring Department, I look forward to applying my lab and bioinformatic expertise in working with degraded DNA materials and simulation-based demographic inference to contribute to research that illuminates the processes shaping life’s diversity, as well as to generating insights that support conservation efforts for threatened species in a rapidly changing landscape.

Publications

2026


Gwee C.Y.,  Tassoni L.,  Boev Z., Tomek T.,  Bochenski Z.M.,  Talamo S., Wolf J.B.W.  2026. Performance of Two Custom Probe Kits for In-Solution Enrichment of Ancient Avian DNA. Molecular Ecology Resources  26, no. 1: e70071. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.70071.


2025


Gwee C.Y., Metzler D., Fuchs J., Wolf J.B.W. (2025). Reconciling Gene Tree Discordance and Biogeography in European Crows. Molecular Ecology, e17764, https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17764


2024


Garg K.M., Gwee C.Y., Chattopadhyay B., Ng N.S., Prawiradilaga D.M., David G., Fuchs J., Manh H.L., Martinez J., Olsson U., Tu V.T., Chhin S., Alström P., Lei F., Rheindt F.E. (2024). When colors mislead: Genomics and bioacoustics prompt re-classification of Asian flycatcher radiation (Aves: Niltavinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 193: 107999, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107999


2023


Tan H.Z., Jansen J.J.F.J, Allport G.A., Garg K.M., Chattopadhyay B., Irestedt M., Pang S.E.H, Chilton G., Gwee C.Y., Rheindt F.E. (2023). Megafaunal extinctions, not climate change, may explain Holocene genetic diversity declines in Numenius shorebirds. eLife 12:e85422, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.85422


Wu M.Y., Forcina G., Low G.W., Sadanandan K.R., Gwee C.Y., van Grouw H., Wu S., Edwards S.V. Baldwin M.W., Rheindt F.E. (2023). Historic samples reveal loss of wild genotype through domestic chicken introgression during the Anthropocene. PLoS Genetics 19(1): e1010551, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010551


2022


Wu M.Y., Lau C.J., Ng E.Y.X, Baveja P., Gwee C.Y., Sadanandan K., Ferasyi T.R., Haminuddin, Ramadhan R., Menner J.K., Rheindt F.E. (2022). Genomes from historic DNA unveil massive hidden extinction and terminal endangerment in a tropical Asian songbird radiation. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 39(9), https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msac189


Sin Y.C.K., Kristensen N.P., Gwee C.Y., Chisholm R.A., & Rheindt F.E. (2022). Bird diversity on shelf islands does not benefit from recent land-bridge connections. Journal of Biogeography 49(1): 189-200, https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14293


2020


Gwee C.Y., Garg K.M., Chattopadhyay B., Sadanandan K.R., Prawiradilaga D.M., Irestedt M., Lei F., Bloch L.M., Lee J.G.H., Irham M., Haryoko T., Soh M.C.G., Peh K.S.H., Rowe K.M.C., Ferasyi T.R., Wu S., Wogan G.O.U., Bowie R.C.K., Rheindt F.E. (2020). Phylogenomics of white-eyes, a ‘great speciator’, reveals Indonesian archipelago as the center of lineage diversity. eLife 9: e627, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.62765


Gwee C.Y., Lee Q.L., Mahood S.P., Hung L.M., Tizard R., Eiamampai K., Round P.D., Rheindt F.E. (2020). The interplay of color and bioacoustic traits in the differentiation of a Southeast Asian songbird complex. Molecular Ecology 30: 297-309, https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15718


Sadanandan K.R., Low G.W., Sridharan S., Gwee C.Y., Ng E.Y.X., Yuda P., Prawiradilaga D.M., Lee J.G.H, Tritto A., Rheindt F.E. (2020). The conservation value of admixed phenotypes in a critically endangered species complex. Scientific Reports 10: 15549, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72428-2


Rheindt F.E., Prawiradilaga M.D., Ashari H., Suparno, Gwee C.Y., Lee G.W.X., Wu M.Y., Ng N.S.R. (2020). A lost world in Wallacea: Description of a montane archipelagic avifauna. Science 367(6474): 167-170, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax2146


2019


Gwee C.Y., Eaton J.A., Ng E.Y.X., Rheindt F.E. (2019). Species delimitation within the Glaucidium brodiei owlet complex using bioacoustic tools. Avian Research 10: 36, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-019-0175-4


Gwee C.Y., Eaton J.A., Garg K.M., Alström P., van Balen S., Hutchinson R.O., Prawiradilaga D.M., Hung Le Manh, Rheindt F.E. (2019). Cryptic diversity in Cyornis (Aves: Muscicapidae) jungle-flycatchers flagged by simple bioacoustic approaches. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 186(3): 725-741, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz003


2018


Tang Q., Low G.W, Lim J.Y., Gwee C.Y., Rheindt F.E. (2018). Human activities and landscape features interact to closely define the distribution and dispersal of an urban commensal. Evolutionary Applications 11: 1598-1608,  https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.12650


Alström P., Rheindt F.E., Zhang R., Zhao M., Wang J., Zhu X., Gwee C.Y., Hao Y., Ohlson J., Jia C., Prawiradilaga D.M., Olsson U. (2018). Complete species-level phylogeny of the leaf warbler (Aves: Phylloscopidae) radiation. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 126: 141-152, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.031


Prawiradilaga D.M., Baveja P., Suparno S., Ashari H., Ng N.S.R., Gwee C.Y., Verbelen P. and Rheindt F.E. (2018). A colourful new species of Myzomela honeyeater from Rote island in Eastern Indonesia. Treubia 44: 77-100


2017


Chattopadhyay B., Garg K.M., Gwee C.Y., Edwards S.V., and Rheindt F.E. (2017). Gene flow during glacial habitat shifts facilitates character displacement in a Neotropical flycatcher radiation. BMC Evolutionary Biology 17(1): 210, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-1047-3


Gwee C.Y., Christidis L., Eaton J.A., Norman J.A., Trainor C.R., Verbelen P., Rheindt F.E. (2017). Bioacoustic and multi- locus DNA data of Ninox owls support high incidence of extinction and recolonisation on small, low-lying islands across Wallacea. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 109: 246-258, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.024

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