Anna I’ve selected three favourite papers from 2018: a research study, a think piece and a technical review. I was really excited to read “Digging mammals contribute to rhizosphere fungal community composition and seedling growth” (subscription) because I’m interested in how conservation management actions – in this case conservation and potential reintroduction of digging mammals…
Tag: Genomics
What We Read- Favorite Papers of 2017
Anna My favourite paper of 2017 was “Devil Tools & Tech: A Synergy of Conservation Research and Management Practice” (open access). This provides a great example of how to effectively bridge the “research-implementation gap” in conservation management. Instead of what could be called the “traditional model”, where scientists conduct and publish research, and only then engage…
Year in Review: What We Wrote 2017
Anna I started a new job in January 2017, moving from a research-focused postdoc to a role with a mix of research and project management, coordinating the Oz Mammals Genomics Initiative. Getting stuck into this has given me less time to spend writing papers (and blogs…) than in previous years, so I’m pretty happy to…
What We Read: Favorite Papers of 2016
Part two of our Year in Review: we describe our favorite papers of 2016. These papers did not necessarily have to have been part of our Friday link dump series, What We’re Reading, which focuses on the WildlifeSNPits theme of the intersection between evolution and conservation. Anna So this year, after much deliberation, I’ve selected…
Year in Review: What We Wrote 2016
Anna I feel as though 2016 has been a slow year for papers for me, with a number of works in progress taking longer than I thought they would. However, I am ending the year with a handful of papers either in review or almost ready to submit, so I hope that 2017 will be much better….
What We’re Reading: Jan 22, 2016
“Jade of the Sea” Oh come on! Just as the world begins to apply pressure to elephant poachers and ivory consumers in an attempt to decrease the killing, trinket carvers are turning to another threatened species for raw materials, the giant clam (Tridacna gigas). The linked article has a lot of great information, everything to…
Year in Review: What We Wrote 2015
Anna Two of my 2015 papers tackle aspects of the same question: how reliable are genetic tests to detect wildlife from trace DNA samples? It’s great to be able to use DNA to work out which species of mammal has been pooping in the woods, or to confirm the identification of a museum sample or roadkill of uncertain origin. But…
What we’re reading: January 9, 2015
The Challenge of Translating Genomics into Conservation Practice A must read for academics or applied conservationists interested in applying genomic techniques to a conservation problem. We’ve written about challenges with conservation genomics before. While this article (sub) highlights the potential value of genomics to conservation, it highlights two important limitations. First, this article puts in…
Ecological Genomics 2014 Themes
I just got back from Kansas State University’s 12th Ecological Genomics Symposium (EcoGen2014, this year with Twitter hashtag #ecogensymp). I covered the themes from last year’s meeting and wanted to do the same this year. The themes I keyed in on from 2014 included: the importance of phenotyping and how genomics informs managed species. Phenotypes…
What we’re reading: Oct 24, 2014
Evolutionary Conservation Since the premise of this blog is write about evolution, conservation, and their intersection, the thesis of this article (open), that evolution can inform conservation, is nothing new to us! The authors layout the links between these two disciplines nicely and give researchers ideas for a path forward in evolutionary conservation. Ecotype Evolution…
What we’re reading: Aug 29, 2014
Conservation Genomics Science has largely transitioned to genomics research, but for conservation, genomics research has been lagging behind. Should scientists use genomics instead of genetics? And When? This review (open) explores these questions and offers advice on informing managers for conservation action. Do we need a new way to name species? This paper (sub) compares…
What we’re reading- March 27, 2014
Cryptic gene-flow in hellbenders Our colleague Sheena Feist published this paper (sub) on gene-flow in hellbenders (large aquatic salamanders). Hellbenders have moderate levels of genetic diversity within rivers with little differentiation and no isolation by distance. This contradicts what scientists previously thought and suggest dispersal occurs at greater distances. How aDNA changed our understanding of…
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