Publications

Peer-reviewed publications

Rodriguez ER*, Birkeland S*, Chapple ED*, Fredriksson S, Carracedo Lorenzo Z, Ahlgren Kalman T, Kumar V, Mccann J, Hill J, Soundiramourtty S, Voxeur A, Røhr ÅK, Tuominen H, Mellerowicz EJ, Street NR, & Hvidsten TR (2026). Comparative regulomics of wood formation across dicot and conifer trees. Nature Communications, 17(1). Link

Birkeland S, Soldado ER, Ranade SS, García-Gil MR, Choudhary S, Tuominen H, Mellerowicz EJ, Street NR, & Hvidsten TR (2026). An updated perspective: what genes make a tree a tree? Trends in Plant Science, 31(1). Cover story. Link

Brochmann C, Elphinstone C, Birkeland S, Ikeda H, Eidesen PB, Alsos IG, & Westergaard KB (2025). Phylogeography of Arctic plants: where are we after 35 years, and where to go. Plant Ecology & Diversity, 1–25. Link

Hoitinga PK, & Birkeland S (2025). Pathway-level convergence: an underexplored aspect of convergent evolution. Trends in Genetics, 41(10), 853–867. Link

Moreyra LD, Calleja JA, Roquet C, Birkeland S, Blanco-Gavaldà C, Galbany-Casals M, Gizaw A, Leliaert F, Brochmann C, & Susanna A (2025). Hidden Lineages in the African Sky Islands: A taxonomic reevaluation of Afrocarduus (Compositae). Journal of Systematics and Evolution, Link.

Moreyra LD, Roquet C, Susanna A, Birkeland, S, Blanco‐Gavaldà C, Brochmann C, Chala D, Galbany‐Casals M, Gizaw A, & Calleja JA (2025). From Pleistocene Corridors to Isolated Peaks and Back: Biogeography of Afrocarduus (Compositae) in the Afromontane Archipelago. Journal of Biogeography, 52(11) Link

Scharwies JD, Clarke T, Zheng Z, Dinneny A, Birkeland S, Veltman MA, Sturrock CJ, Banda J, Torres-Martínez HH, Viana WG, Khare R, Kieber J, Pandey BK, Bennett M, Schnable PS, & Dinneny JR (2025). Moisture-responsive root-branching pathways identified in diverse maize breeding germplasm. Science, 387(6734), 666–673. Link

Hämälä T, Moore C, Cowan L, Carlile M, Gopaulchan D, Brandrud MK, Birkeland S, Loose M, Kolář F, Koch MA, & Yant L (2024). Impact of whole-genome duplications on structural variant evolution in Cochlearia. Nature Communications, 15(1), 5377–13. Link

Sartorius AM, Rokicki J, Birkeland S, Bettella F, Barth C, de Lange A-MG, Haram M, Shadrin A, Winterton A, Steen NE, Schwarz E, Stein DJ, Andreassen OA, van der Meer D, Westlye LT, Theofanopoulou C, & Quintana DS (2024). An evolutionary timeline of the oxytocin signaling pathway. Communications Biology, 7(471), 1–13. Link

Marie-orleach L*, Glémin S*, Brandrud MK, Brysting AK, Gizaw A, Gustafsson ALS, Rieseberg LH, Brochmann C*, & Birkeland S* (2024). How does selfing affect the pace and process of speciation? Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 1–24. Link

Birkeland S (2022). To what degree does hybridization facilitate evolutionary radiations in mountain areas? National Science Review, 4–5. Link

Cerca J, Petersen B, Lazaro-Guevara JM, Rivera-Colón A, Birkeland S, Vizueta J, Li S, Li Q, Loureiro J, Chatchai K, Díaz PJ, Rivas-Torres G, Fernández-Mazuecos M, Vargas P, Mccauley RA, Petersen G, Santos-Bay L, Wales N, Catchen JM, Machado D, Nowak MD, Suh A, Sinha NR, Nielsen LR, Seberg O, Gilbert MTP, Leebens-Mack JH, Rieseberg LH, Martin MD (2022). The genomic basis of the plant island syndrome in Darwin’s giant daisies. Nature Communications, 13(1):3729. Link

Birkeland S, Slotte, T, Brysting, AK, Gustafsson, A L S, Hvidsten, TR, Brochmann, C, & Nowak, MD (2022). What can cold‐induced transcriptomes of Arctic Brassicaceae tell us about the evolution of cold tolerance? Molecular Ecology. 31(16):4271-4285. Link

Nowak MD, Birkeland S, Mandáková T, Choudhury RR, Guo X, Gustafsson ALS, Gizaw A, Schrøder-Nielsen A, Fracassetti M, Brysting AK, Rieseberg L, Slotte T, Parisod C, Lysak MA, Brochmann C (2021). The genome of Draba nivalis shows signatures of adaptation to the extreme environmental stresses of the Arctic. Molecular Ecology Resources. 21(3):661–676. Main Cover Story. Link

Birkeland S, Gustafsson ALS, Brysting AK, Brochmann C, Nowak MD (2020). Multiple genetic trajectories to extreme abiotic stress adaptation in Arctic Brassicaceae. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 37(7): 2052–2068. Featured on the journal’s front page. Link

Struck TH, Feder JL, Bendiksby M, Birkeland S, Cerca J, Gusarov VI, Kistenich S, Larsson K-H, Liow LH, Nowak MD, Stedje B, Bachmann L, Dimitrov D (2018). Finding Evolutionary Processes Hidden in Cryptic Species. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 33(3):153–163. Link

Birkeland S*, Skjetne IEB*, Brysting AK, Elven R, Alsos IG (2017). Living on the edge: Conservation genetics of seven thermophilous plant species in a high Arctic archipelago. AoB Plants. 9(1):1-21 Link

Alsos IG, Ehrich D, Eidesen PB, Solstad H, Westergaard KB, Schönswetter P, Tribsch A, Birkeland S, Elven R, Brochmann C (2015). Long-distance plant dispersal to North Atlantic islands: Colonization routes and founder effect. AoB Plants. 7(1):1-19.Link

Westengen OT, Okongo MA, Onek L, Berg T, Upadhyaya H, Birkeland S, Khalsa SDK, Ring KH, Stenseth NC, Brysting AK (2014). Ethnolinguistic structuring of sorghum genetic diversity in Africa and the role of local seed systems. PNAS. 111(39):14100–14105. Link

*shared contribution

Preprints

Elphinstone C, Sandler M, Stone P, Torres Jimenez MF, Henn JJ, Zhang X, Birkeland S, Brochmann C, Henry GHR, Todesco M, Bacon CD, & Rieseberg LH (2026). Shared genomic signatures of Arctic adaptation among distantly related plant lineages. Preprint available at bioRxiv Link

Daru BH, Birkeland S, & Chala D (2025). Vascular plant extinctions outpace colonizations under climate change. Preprint available at bioRxiv Link

Ove Nilsson, Teitur Ahlgren Kalman, Nicolas Delhomme et al. (2025) 1000 conifer genomes: Genome innovation, organisation and diversity, Preprint available at Research Square Link