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Category Archives: conservation
Mapping genomes and navigating behavior for wildlife conservation
Virginia Aida wrote this post as a final project for Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is currently evaluating a potential pharmacotherapy in traumatic brain injury and anticipates graduating with her MS in summer 2017. Although she … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, association genetics, bioinformatics, blogging, conservation, domestication, evolution, natural history
Tagged behavior, conservation, QTLs, Reintroduction, scicomm, transcriptome, zoos
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Like Turtles, Terrapin Research Moves a Little Slow
Marlee Hayes wrote this post as a final project for Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her primary interests focus on challenges in conservation and sustainability. Previously, she evaluated fitness of post-hatchling Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin), … Continue reading
Molting on the molecular level: how blue crabs become soft-shell crabs
Megan Roegner wrote this post as a final project for Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Megan spent her early years in Cape Town, South Africa playing in the tidal pools along the coast and developing … Continue reading
Posted in bioinformatics, blogging, conservation, domestication, evolution, genomics, natural history
Tagged Aquaculture, Blue Crab, Endocrinology, Physiology, scicomm, Science Communication
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Deep in the meadow, under the … seagrass, a bed of temporally stable diversity?
Genetically diverse populations are often more stable and productive. For habitat-forming organisms, such as seagrasses, this results in increased habitat complexity and more abundant associated communities (e.g., Hughes and Stachowicz 2004, Reusch et al. 2005). Spatial patterns of genetic diversity … Continue reading
What's left of the black rhino's genetic diversity?
With the current poaching epidemic we might lose rhinos before we even have time to get to know them. Luckily, the day has come and thanks to Yoshan Moodley, Mike Bruford and their team we know have a pretty good … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, evolution, Paleogenomics, phylogeography, population genetics
Tagged black rhino, conservation, extinction
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Resurrecting our ghosts: Helen Pilcher’s Bring Back the King
The Molecular Ecologist receives a small commission for purchases made on Bookshop.org via links from this post. On September 7, 1936, at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania, a wolf-like creature named Benjamin paced up and down in his cage. As night fell, … Continue reading
Posted in book review, conservation, genomics
Tagged de-extinction, passenger pigeon, thylacine
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Diving into the inbreeding depression
This post is going to be a little melodramatic, but I hope that despite all the reading on inbreeding depression, you won’t get depressed. As the media finally started feeding us all the catastrophic news about the impact of global … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, genomics, population genetics, theory
Tagged genomics, inbreeding, inbreeding depression, Isle Royale wolves, pedigree
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Artificial connectivity … have we overlooked the native range?
Invasive species are problematic throughout the world’s ecosystems, down even to their very name which incites heated debates. Every month, studies are published that describe the genetic structure and gene flow of non-native species in their introduced ranges. Often, these … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, conservation, evolution, natural history, phylogeography, population genetics
Tagged Biological Invasion, Ciona, Evolution, invasive species, marine, Sessile
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The almighty CRISPR-Cas9 technology: The future of conservation?
In the first post on CRISPR-Cas9, I’ve explained how bacteria and archaea create a “database” of infections and use it as a form of prokaryotic immunization. This time, I’m going to concentrate on how biotechnology turns this natural phenomenon into … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, evolution, methods, theory
Tagged conservation, CRISPR, CRISPR-Cas9, gene drive
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A tale of mammoths and a disappearing lake
A wonderful study revealed a sad story of the St. Paul Island population of woolly mammoths. Using a creative and diverse set of analytical approaches, scientists identified freshwater shortage as the likely cause of their extinction. A cross-disciplinary collaboration of … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, evolution, natural history
Tagged extinction, mammoths, St. Paul
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