I am an evolutionary biologist specialized in quantitative statistical analysis of phenotypic data, with interest in the predictability of evolution. My original background is in paleobiology and macroevolution, with experience in systematic paleontology, biogeography, comparative anatomy, and bone histology, with a PhD from Kyoto University, Japan, on the postnatal skeletal development of extant birds.

Through my previous postdoctoral fellowships in the UK and Spain, I have worked on statistical method development and empirical analysis in morphometrics and evolutionary quantitative genetics, with a focus on analysis of trait covariation in multivariate characters. Prior achievements in this direction involve theoretical development over measures of phenotypic integration and evolvability, formulation of a retrospective test of evolutionary constraint hypothesis using character covariation (the G matrix), software implementation of these theoretical results, and proposal of new statistical tests for evolutionary (non)parallelism in phenotypic characters.

At the Institute, I aim to conduct theoretical analysis on the consequence of character covariation in evolutionary parallelism, seeking to connect it with the concept of polygenic adaptation. I am also responsible for coordinating scientific meetings within the SFB Polygenic Adaptation as well as the PopGen Vienna Seminar series.

Selected publications

Watanabe, J., 2024. Distribution theories for genetic line of least resistance and evolvability measures. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 37: 1576–1590. DOI:10.1093/jeb/voae049.

Watanabe, J., 2023. Exact expressions and numerical evaluation of average evolvability measures for characterizing and comparing G matrices. Journal of Mathematical Biology, 86: 95. DOI: 10.1007/s00285-023-01930-8.

Watanabe, J., 2022b. Detecting (non)parallel evolution in multidimensional spaces: angles, correlations, and eigenanalysis. Biology Letters, 18: 20210638. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0638.

Watanabe, J., 2022a. Statistics of eigenvalue dispersion indices: quantifying the magnitude of phenotypic integration. Evolution, 76: 4–28. DOI: 10.1111/evo.14382.

Watanabe, J., Field, D. J., Matsuoka, H., 2021. Wing musculature reconstruction in extinct flightless auks (Pinguinus and Mancalla) reveals incomplete convergence with penguins (Spheniscidae) due to differing ancestral states. Integrative Organismal Biology, 3: obaa040. DOI: 10.1093/iob/obaa040.

Watanabe, J., 2018. Clade-specific evolutionary diversification along ontogenetic major axes in avian limb skeleton. Evolution, 72: 2632–2652. DOI: 10.1111/evo.13627.