Category Archives: genomics

Speciation by selection (and drift) in the sea

Posted on 9 Mar, 2015 by Melissa DeBiasse

Marine systems challenge the view that speciation is the result of geographic isolation. Many marine taxa have large effective population sizes, which slows lineage sorting, larval dispersal phases that may extend for days, weeks, and sometimes months, potentially connecting far flung populations, … Continue reading →

Posted in genomics, next generation sequencing, selection, speciation | 1 Comment

sedaDNA sleuths: embracing your inner Sherlock

Posted on 6 Mar, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Awhile back fellow TME contributor Rob Denton posted about a recent review on environmental DNA by Pedersen et al. (2015). Environmental DNA (eDNA) is obtained from samples such as sediments, ice or water and can provide scientific sleuths with tantalizing clues about past … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, domestication, genomics, natural history, next generation sequencing, Paleogenomics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

dN(eutralist) > dS(electionist)? Part 1

Posted on 26 Feb, 2015 by Arun Sethuraman

In a new series of posts, I will now proffer neutralist and selectionist reviews of recent publications. I point readers to an excellent review of the debate by Masatoshi Nei (2005). Besides being a fun exercise in PoV’s, I hope … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, genomics, mutation, population genetics, theory | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

The conservation genomics gap

Posted on 25 Feb, 2015 by Rob Denton

Is genomic data a boon or a hurdle for conservation? Aaron Shafer and Jochen Wolf take a strong stance on the issue in a newly-published review in Trends in Ecology and Evolution: genomic data could be really useful for conservation, but not … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, genomics | Tagged | 6 Comments

Bigger on the inside

Posted on 24 Feb, 2015 by Jeremy Yoder

The Molecular Ecologist receives a small commission for purchases made on Bookshop.org via links from this post. Evolutionary biology is, fundamentally, the study of how populations of living things change over time. Different creatures live different lives, and at any given point in … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, book review, evolution, genomics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Show me the power

Posted on 20 Feb, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Describing the patterns of genetic structure and mating system variation in presents challenges from the outset of sample collection to data analysis (see this post and this post). At the beginning of February, I had the pleasure to collaborate with Sean … Continue reading →

Posted in conservation, evolution, genomics, interview, methods, population genetics, software, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Interspecific gene flow enhances vectorial capacity

Posted on 20 Feb, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

There are charismatic cases of gene flow between species, such as Neanderthals (see also Arun’s posts here and here), but the role of introgression in evolution remains poorly documented. Recently diverged species have incomplete reproductive isolation and can hybridize. Rapid … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, phylogenetics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Twice Mixed? Testing hypotheses of Neanderthal Introgression

Posted on 19 Feb, 2015 by Arun Sethuraman

Human migration in, and out of Africa was wrought with complex patterns of admixture (see my previous post summarizing the story so far). Of note were some recent findings on the disparity in amounts of Neanderthal introgression/ancestry between East Asians … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, mutation, Paleogenomics, population genetics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Genome-wide effects of artificial selection

Posted on 12 Feb, 2015 by Arun Sethuraman

Humans have been artificially selecting for favorable traits in crops, pets, and livestock over millennia. Years of theoretical predictions and experimental evolution studies have shown the detrimental effects of increased homozygosity, and the population-wide advantages of artificially maintaining heterozygosity. Two … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, methods, mutation, population genetics, theory | Leave a comment

How do you unite the stage and actors of the evolutionary play?

Posted on 11 Feb, 2015 by Rob Denton

When you are forced to give your one sentence, off-the-cuff response to “what kind of scientist are you?”, who do you become? A landscape geneticist? Community geneticist? Landscape epidemiologist? A new opinion in Trends in Ecology and Evolution by Brian … Continue reading →

Posted in community ecology, evolution, genomics, population genetics | Tagged , | 2 Comments