Author Archives: Katharine Coykendall

Asteroids and Pandemics

For whatever reason, viral disease and pandemics have been on my mind, so it’s no surprise that a recent paper in Molecular Ecology caught my attention. It blends the existential dread of global pandemics with the increasing panic concerning the … Continue reading

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In defense of hatcheries: a response to the "Artifishal" documentary

A month or so ago, I had opportunity to screen the documentary, “Artifishal” (admittedly, a pretty clever title), in a room full of fish biologists, geneticists, and hatchery managers.  The premise of the film is that both hatcheries and open … Continue reading

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The state of coral: A mini-review

Coral reefs are one of the main harbingers of the climate crisis.  As such, there have been numerous studies, TED talks, Blue Planet episodes, podcasts, et cetera, about the state of corals. I’ve condensed a select few research findings for … Continue reading

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Invasion by land, river, and sea

One obvious effect of climate change will be the spread of invasive species and the subsequent ecological, commercial, and health repercussions.  Therefore, studies that address the patterns of colonization and possible underlying genetic mechanisms that may lend to being a … Continue reading

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Science Rapture

I’ve been talking myself into and out of writing this post since the 12th day of the government shutdown.  It temporarily ended after a record breaking 35 days.  My delay has partly to do with procrastination (because of course), but … Continue reading

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A Highlight of Molecular Ecology outside of Academia

I’ve recently made a career change. Actually, I’m not even sure whether to call it that, or the next step of a natural, if meandering progression of a scientist not on the academic career path. Even though I see more and … Continue reading

Posted in career, conservation, ecology, funding, pedigree, population genetics, quantitative genetics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deep Sea Biology Symposium 2018

The bloggers here at The Molecular Ecologist have been regaling you with recaps of various conferences from The Ecological Society of America to Evolution  to  the more intimate  Lake Arrowhead Microbial Genomics Conference.  Although it contemplated skipping my synopsis to … Continue reading

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Big Data and Pretty Graphics Illustrate Surprising Global Trend in Marine Fish

Looking around for a topic to write about, I found a recent paper in Nature that struck me for four reasons.  The first is how it ties into my previous post about repeated patterns in evolution of sticklebacks in higher latitudes.  … Continue reading

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Just So Stories addendum: How the stickleback keeps getting its stickles

Model organisms have been essential tools for genetics research since the field was formed.  Kelle Freel discussed the characteristics that make for a good model organism in a previous TME post.  Briefly, traits like short generation time, lots of offspring, … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, evolution, genomics, natural history, selection, stickleback | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Signal Boosting a Comprehensive Review of eDNA and Metabarcoding Studies

Everything is meta these days – metabarcoding, metagenomics, and now meta blog posts that are reviews of reviews. Much like every ecologist at least dabbles in the molecular world, so most of those predisposed to molecular ecology and population genetics … Continue reading

Posted in bioinformatics, community ecology, DNA barcoding, metagenomics, methods, microbiology, next generation sequencing, population genetics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment