Genome Assembly for an Endangered Lemur Using Portable Nanopore Sequencing in Rural Madagascar.

As one of the most threatened mammalian taxa, lemurs of Madagascar are facing unprecedented anthropogenic pressures. To address conservation imperatives such as this, researchers have increasingly relied on conservation genomics to identify populations of particular concern. However, many of these genomic approaches necessitate high-quality genomes.

Genomic signatures of adaptation in native lizards exposed to human-introduced fire ants.

Understanding the process of genetic adaptation in response to human-mediated ecological change will help elucidate the eco-evolutionary impacts of human activity. In the 1930s red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) were accidently introduced to the Southeastern USA, where today they are both venomous predators and toxic prey to native eastern fence lizards (Sceloporus undulatus). Here, we investigate potential lizard adaptation to invasive fire ants by generating whole-genome sequences from 420 lizards across three populations: one with long exposure to fire ants, and two unexposed populations.

Using contrastive inferences to learn about new words and categories.

In the face of unfamiliar language or objects, description is one cue people can use to learn about both. Beyond narrowing potential referents to those that match a descriptor (e.g.