What we're reading: A new review of landscape genetics, science in the shutdown, and how to not be That Dude.

Spanish Steps at sunset - Rome, May 2009 - 30
In the journals
Petren, K. 2013. The evolution of landscape genetics. Evolution. doi: 10.1111/evo.12278.

Evolutionary landscape genetics is the study of how migration and population structure affects evolutionary processes. As a field it dates back to Sewall Wright and the origin of theoretical population genetics, but empirical tests of adaptive processes of evolution in natural landscapes have been rare

Alberto, F. J., J. Derory, C. Boury, J.-M. Frigerio, N. E. Zimmermann, and A. Kremer. 2013. Imprints of natural selection along environmental gradients in phenology-related genes of Quercus petraea. Genetics 195:495–512. doi: 10.1534/genetics.113.153783.

We investigated whether SNP variation reflected the clinal pattern of bud burst observed in common garden experiments. We used different methods to detect imprints of natural selection (FST outlier, clinal variation at allelic frequencies, association tests) and compared the results obtained for the two gradients.

In the news
Here’s a brief rundown of scientific work and outreach brought to a screeching, experiment-ruining halt by gerrymandering-induced paralysis in Washington this week. And here’s a gallery of screenshots from databases and other online resources hobbled by the shutdown. But the conservative war on the NSF is still underway.
From tweet to review article.
Bard College (where, full disclosure, Jeremy has taught) is initiating a new option for applicants to skip SAT scores and transcripts by writing four 2,500-word research papers. Is that better?
More on the decision by Popular Science to close their website comments system.
A handy guide for male academics who don’t want to be That Dude.
Are you now or have you recently been searching for an academic job? Then you should take this extremely short survey.

About Jeremy Yoder

Jeremy B. Yoder is an Associate Professor of Biology at California State University Northridge, studying the evolution and coevolution of interacting species, especially mutualists. He is a collaborator with the Joshua Tree Genome Project and the Queer in STEM study of LGBTQ experiences in scientific careers. He has written for the website of Scientific American, the LA Review of Books, the Chronicle of Higher Education, The Awl, and Slate.
This entry was posted in linkfest. Bookmark the permalink.