Jeremy A. Miller, Ph.D.

Research interests

My research investigates patterns of biodiversity in some of the most species rich communities on Earth: tropical forests. Landscape-scale patterns of community structure - how many species live in a place and how does that community change over space - are essential for understanding, managing, and protecting biodiversity. Although large-scale community dynamics are well understood for some charismatic groups, most of the world's biodiversity resides in its arthropod species. Diverse tropical arthropod communities are generally not well known. Such communities are characterized by a few common species and a very large number of rare species. Adequate sampling from such communities is problematic because the dominance of rare species makes it nearly impossible to obtain a complete census of the species present. It is only within the past several years that statistical methods have become available to compare communities between sites based on incomplete samples. I am applying these methods to learn how factors like distance, habitat, disturbance, and structural complexity affect diverse communities. I use a variety of approaches to obtain data on biodiversity patterns including morphology-based sorting, DNA barcoding, and next-generation sequencing of bulk homogenized samples.

Inventories of tropical arthropods generate specimens that can form the basis of taxonomic and phylogenetic research. My work in spider taxonomy follows a cybertaxonomic model. In addition to traditional publications, elements of my taxonomic work are distributed online in a variety of ways. This is important because scientists and students living and working in proximity to the greatest concentrations of biodiversity often have limited access to large academic libraries, but access to the internet is increasingly widespread. Biodiversity is one of the most information-rich fields of human knowledge and online resources provide unprecedented power to make this aggregated information more accessible and relevant.

Current projects

Spider diversity of Vietnam. In 2009, spiders were sampled from three localities: Vu Quang, Cuc Phong, and Cat Ba. My collaborators and I established a one-hectare plot at each location and conducted a structured inventory. Specimens are now being sorted to morphospecies and DNA barcoded. Images of all species will be posted online. We will estimate spider species richness in each of the three forests and assess species overlap between the study sites. Studies of spider species richness from single locations have been conducted at several locations around the world, but the rate at which diverse arthropod communities change across the landscape is not so well understood. Digital images of morphospecies posted online will help us to disseminate our findings quickly, facilitate collaboration, and promote rapid progress toward a detailed understanding of spider community structure in Vietnam and beyond. All of this will aid land use planners and other decision makers concerned with biodiversity, and serve as a resource for Vietnamese students and researchers.

DNA barcoding. I am collaborating with the NCB Naturalis Barcoding Facility on two projects: spiders of the Netherlands and spiders of Vietnam. The goals of the Dutch spider project are 1) to investigate how time since collection affects the probability of obtaining a barcode sequence from a specimen and 2) to produce barcode sequences for as many Dutch spider species as possible based on a combination of museum and fresh collections. This study will help us to more efficiently use legacy collections for spider DNA barcoding projects and predict when fresh specimens will be required. Unlike the Dutch spider project, where the fauna is well known, the spiders of Vietnam project is dominated by unidentified and undescribed species that have been assigned a morphospecies designation. DNA bracode sequences will test these morphospecies concepts, providing an independent check on whether males and females have been correctly matched and whether similar-looking specimens from different locations are actually conspecific.

Systematics of velvet spiders.  The spider family Eresidae is a small (ca. 100 species) and interesting lineage. It includes the genus Stegodyphus, which has evolved sociality multiple times, and the ladybird spider (males of some Eresus species), which are arguably the most beautiful spiders in temperate Europe and Asia. With the remarkable exception of one species known from Brazil, velvet spiders can be found only in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Eresidae was historically divided into two subfamilies: Eresinae and Penestominae. Penestomines have a controversial history. Based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic analysis, my collaborators and I (Miller et al. 2010-a) removed Penestominae from Eresidae. I am currently working with a team of researchers to taxonomically review and image representatives of all eresid genera.

Biodiversity of the Gaoligongshan. Since 1998, the California Academy of Sciences has lead an international interdisciplinary biotic inventory in the Gaoligongshan (or Gaoligong mountains) of western Yunnan, China. The Gaoligongshan is located in the heart of one of the world's biodiversity "hotspots". "Hotspots" are areas of extreme biodiversity and endemism under severe threat of habitat destruction. But the hotspot designation itself, while an extremely successful concept for the conservation community, has been criticized for over-reliance on data from vascular plants and tetrapod vertebrates. The hotspot designation criteria were originally selected in part because these taxa are relatively well known and well sampled worldwide, but it is not clear that they are representative of the biota as a whole because sampling and knowledge about the most diverse groups on Earth tends to be incomplete. Our inventory emphasized vascular plants and tetrapods (hotspot taxa) as well as fish, non-vascular plants (bryophytes), and two arthropod groups. From these data, we will be able to determine whether hotspot taxa are representative of a broader spectrum of the biota for conservation assessment and provide a model for assessing biodiversity of both well known and poorly known groups simultaneously.

Publication highlights

Spiders of the Gaoligongshan and online taxonomy. I recently published a monograph describing the Gaoligong species of four closely related spider families: Theridiosomatidae, Mysmenidae, Anapidae, and Symphytognathidae (the micro-orbweaving spiders; Miller et al. 2009). Over 1000 adult symphytognathoid specimens were collected during the 10 year inventory. These belong to 36 species, all new to science. In addition to the traditional journal publication, data are available through a variety of online sources. New species have been registered on ZooBank, images have been posted on Morphbank, species pages have been created for the Encyclopedia of Life, and a Google Earth layer facilitates interactive exploration of specimen collection data.

Phylogeny of Spiders. I have used molecular sequence data to investigate questions about the phylogenetic affinities of several groups of entelegyne spiders (Miller et al. 2010-b). Penestomus was first described from females only and placed in the family Eresidae. Discovery of the male decades later brought surprises, especially in the anatomy of the male palp which features (among other things) a retrolateral tibial apophysis (RTA). The presence of an RTA is synapomorphic for a large clade of spiders exclusive of Eresidae. A molecular data matrix based on four loci was constructed to test two alternative hypotheses: 1) Penestomus are eresids and the RTA is convergent, or 2) Penestomus belong within the RTA clade. Our analysis supported Penestomus as an RTA clade lineage not close to Eresidae. As a result, Penestomus was removed from Eresidae and promoted to family rank (Penestomidae). In addition, we transferred the subfamily Coelotinae from the Amaurobiidae to the Agelenidae. A taxonomic revision of Penestomus (Miller et al. 2010-a) with cybertaxonomic enhancements (including registration of new species in ZooBank, Encyclopedia of Life species pages, and specimen records explorable in Google Earth) complements this phylogenetic work.

Repeated evolution of male sacrifice behavior. While it is true that cannibalism during mating occurs with more or less frequency in many spider species, the notion that black widow spiders always eat their mates is a myth. However, males of the Australian widow spider Latrodectus hasselti exhibit remarkable mating behavior: during copulation, males execute a somersault that places their abdomen near the mouth of the female, frequently resulting in the death of the male. This is an example of male sacrifice behavior. Male sacrifice behavior, defined as either complicity in cannibalism or spontaneous death associated with copulation, is not limited to widow spiders. An analysis using phylogeny-based statistics suggests that a series of evolutionary prerequisites are associated with the evolution of male sacrifice behavior in spiders, including extreme sexual size dimorphism, accumulation of multiple males in the female web (an indicator of a male-biased effective sex ratio), and mutilation of the male genitalia during mating (Miller 2007-a).

Social Spitting Spiders. On a recent expedition to Madagascar, I discovered social behavior in spitting spiders (family Scytodidae). These spiders were previously known to have some maternal care, but not to cooperate as adults. The evolution of maternal care precedes more advanced forms of sociality in several spider lineages, so this discovery is consistent with a larger evolutionary motif.

 

Teaching and mentoring

I participate in courses offered through Leiden University including Biodiversity II, Biodiversity III, and Richness of the World, and also the Flora and Fauna course at Groningen University. Stage opportunities are available for students interested in quantitative biodiversity, community ecology, and cybertaxonomy.  

I participate as an instructor for the Advanced Field Ecology and Conservation Course at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan, China.

 

Appointments

Senior Scientist, Wetenschappelijk Onderzoeker for Arachnida
Department of Terrestrial Zoology
Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis
Leiden, The Netherlands

Research Associate
Department of Entomology
California Academy of Sciences 
San Francisco, USA

 

Postdoctoral fellowships

Postdoctoral Fellow, California Academy of Sciences, 2007. Advisor: Charles Griswold. Funded by "Biotic Survey of the Gaoligongshan, a Biodiversity Hotspot in Western Yunnan, China," National Science Foundation award BSI 0103795 (P.I.s N. Jablonski and P. Fritsch).

California Academy of Sciences, Schlinger Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Systematic Entomology, California Academy of Sciences, 2005-2007. Advisor: Charles Griswold. Systematics of Widow Spiders (Araneae, Theridiidae, Latrodectus): A Total Evidence Approach.

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 2004-2005. Advisors: Dr. Jonathan Coddington and Dr. Ted Schultz. Molecular Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Widow Spiders (Araneae, Theridiidae, Latrodectus).

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 2003-2004. Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Coddington. Funded by "Assembling the Tree of Life: Phylogeny of Spiders," National Science Foundation award DEB 0228699 (P.I.s W. Wheeler, L. Prendini, J. Coddington, G. Hormiga and P. Sierwald). 

 

Education

The George Washington University (GWU), Department of Biological Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1996-2003, Ph.D. Co-advisors: Dr. Gustavo Hormiga, Dr. Jonathan Coddington. Dissertation: Progress in the systematics of erigonine spiders (Araneae, Linyphiidae, Erigoninae).

Western Carolina University (WCU), Department of Biology in Cullowhee, North Carolina, 1994-1996, M.S. Advisor: Dr. Frederick A. Coyle. Thesis: Systematics of the erigonine spider genus Sisicottus (Araneae, Linyphiidae).

The Evergreen State College (TESC), Olympia, Washington, 1989-1994, B.A., B.S.

The Northwest School, Seattle, Washington, 1985-1989.

 

Editorial duties

Zootaxa. Subject editor for amaurobioid spiders (Araneae: Amaurobioidea).

ZooKeys. Subject editor for spiders (Araneae).

Contributions to Zoology. Associate editor.

  

Arachnida collection at NCB Naturalis

Loans and collection visits can be arranged through our collection department at collectie@ncbnaturalis.nl or myself at jeremy.miller@ncbnaturalis.nl. Prospective visitors are advised to visit /collections/plan-your-visit. Our loan policy is available at /collections/loan-policy.