Genetic rescue often leads to higher fitness as a result of increased heterozygosity across animal taxa.

Biodiversity loss has reached critical levels partly due to anthropogenic habitat loss and degradation. These landscape changes are damaging as they can fragment species distributions into small, isolated populations, resulting in limited gene flow, population declines and reduced adaptive potential. Genetic rescue, the translocation of individuals to increase genetic diversity and ultimately fitness, has produced promising results for fragmented populations but remains underutilized due to a lack of long-term data and monitoring.

A cost-effective RNA extraction and RT-qPCR approach to detect California serogroup viruses from pooled mosquito samples.

Mosquito-borne diseases pose ongoing global health concerns, demanding more cost-efficient methods to detect pathogens to support enhanced surveillance efforts. This study introduces an adapted TRIzol-based high-throughput RNA extraction protocol, tailored for the detection of California serogroup viruses in pooled mosquito samples in a rapid and cost-effective manner. This approach provided consistent RNA yields and sensitive viral detection relative to two commercial extraction kits (QIAGEN RNeasy Mini Kit and MACHEREY-NAGEL NucleoSpin RNA Plus Kit).

Relationships between water quality and mosquito presence and abundance: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) are emerging in response to climate and land use changes. As mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) habitat selection is often contingent on water availability for egg and larval development, studies have recognized water quality also influences larval habitats. However, underlying species-, genera-, and mosquito level preferences for water quality conditions are varied.

Evidence of Coevolution Between Lineages and Their Corresponding Hosts, Lodgepole Pine and Jack Pine.

Variation in rate of infection and susceptibility of spp. to the fungus (syn. ), the causative agent of western gall rust, has been well documented.

Genetic association with boldness and maternal performance in a free-ranging population of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus).

Individual variation in quantitative traits clearly influence many ecological and evolutionary processes. Moderate to high heritability estimates of personality and life-history traits suggest some level of genetic control over these traits. Yet, we know very little of the underlying genetic architecture of phenotypic variation in the wild.

Large-scale prion protein genotyping in Canadian caribou populations and potential impact on chronic wasting disease susceptibility.

Polymorphisms within the prion protein gene (Prnp) are an intrinsic factor that can modulate chronic wasting disease (CWD) pathogenesis in cervids. Although wild European reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) were infected with CWD, as yet there have been no reports of the disease in North American caribou (R. tarandus spp.

The influence of a priori grouping on inference of genetic clusters: simulation study and literature review of the DAPC method.

Inference of genetic clusters is a key aim of population genetics, sparking development of numerous analytical methods. Within these, there is a conceptual divide between finding de novo structure versus assessment of a priori groups. Recently developed, Discriminant Analysis of Principal Components (DAPC), combines discriminant analysis (DA) with principal component (PC) analysis.

Confidently identifying the correct K value using the ΔK method: When does K = 2?

Populations delineated based on genetic data are commonly used for wildlife conservation and management. Many studies use the program structure combined with the ΔK method to identify the most probable number of populations (K). We recently found K = 2 was identified more often when studies used ΔK compared to studies that did not.

Predicting the spread-risk potential of chronic wasting disease to sympatric ungulate species.

Wildlife disease incidence is increasing, resulting in negative impacts on the economy, biodiversity, and potentially human health. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of cervids (wild and captive) which continues to spread geographically resulting in exposure to potential new host species. The disease agent (PrP) is a misfolded conformer of the cellular prion protein (PrP).

Linking genotype to phenotype to identify genetic variation relating to host susceptibility in the mountain pine beetle system.

Identifying genetic variants responsible for phenotypic variation under selective pressure has the potential to enable productive gains in natural resource conservation and management. Despite this potential, identifying adaptive candidate loci is not trivial, and linking genotype to phenotype is a major challenge in contemporary genetics. Many of the population genetic approaches commonly used to identify adaptive candidates will simultaneously detect false positives, particularly in nonmodel species, where experimental evidence is seldom provided for putative roles of the adaptive candidates identified by outlier approaches.

The K = 2 conundrum.

Assessments of population genetic structure have become an increasing focus as they can provide valuable insight into patterns of migration and gene flow. structure, the most highly cited of several clustering-based methods, was developed to provide robust estimates without the need for populations to be determined a priori. structure introduces the problem of selecting the optimal number of clusters, and as a result, the ΔK method was proposed to assist in the identification of the "true" number of clusters.

Mule deer spatial association patterns and potential implications for transmission of an epizootic disease.

Animal social behaviour can have important effects on the long-term dynamics of diseases. In particular, preferential spatial relationships between individuals can lead to differences in the rates of disease spread within a population. We examined the concurrent influence of genetic relatedness, sex, age, home range overlap, time of year, and prion disease status on proximal associations of adult Rocky Mountain mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus) in a chronic wasting disease endemic area.

Circumpolar Genetic Structure and Recent Gene Flow of Polar Bears: A Reanalysis.

Recently, an extensive study of 2,748 polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from across their circumpolar range was published in PLOS ONE, which used microsatellites and mitochondrial haplotypes to apparently show altered population structure and a dramatic change in directional gene flow towards the Canadian Archipelago-an area believed to be a future refugium for polar bears as their southernmost habitats decline under climate change. Although this study represents a major international collaborative effort and promised to be a baseline for future genetics work, methodological shortcomings and errors of interpretation undermine some of the study's main conclusions. Here, we present a reanalysis of this data in which we address some of these issues, including: (1) highly unbalanced sample sizes and large amounts of systematically missing data; (2) incorrect calculation of FST and of significance levels; (3) misleading estimates of recent gene flow resulting from non-convergence of the program BayesAss.

Cross-species outlier detection reveals different evolutionary pressures between sister species.

Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana) hybridize in western Canada, an area of recent mountain pine beetle range expansion. Given the heterogeneity of the environment, and indications of local adaptation, there are many unknowns regarding the response of these forests to future outbreaks.

Spatial patterns of neutral and functional genetic variations reveal patterns of local adaptation in raccoon (Procyon lotor) populations exposed to raccoon rabies.

Local adaptation is necessary for population survival and depends on the interplay between responses to selective forces and demographic processes that introduce or retain adaptive and maladaptive attributes. Host-parasite systems are dynamic, varying in space and time, where both host and parasites must adapt to their ever-changing environment in order to survive. We investigated patterns of local adaptation in raccoon populations with varying temporal exposure to the raccoon rabies virus (RRV).

Effects of introgression on the genetic population structure of two ecologically and economically important conifer species: lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana).

Forest trees exhibit a remarkable range of adaptations to their environment, but as a result of frequent and long-distance gene flow, populations are often only weakly differentiated. Lodgepole and jack pine hybridize in western Canada, which adds the opportunity for introgression through hybridization to contribute to population structure and (or) adaptive variation. Access to large sample size, high density SNP datasets for these species would improve our ability to resolve population structure, parameterize introgression, and separate the influence of demography from adaptation.

Temporal analysis of genetic structure to assess population dynamics of reintroduced swift foxes.

Reintroductions are increasingly used to reestablish species, but a paucity of long-term postrelease monitoring has limited understanding of whether and when viable populations subsequently persist. We conducted temporal genetic analyses of reintroduced populations of swift foxes (Vulpes velox) in Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan) and the United States (Montana). We used samples collected 4 years apart, 17 years from the initiation of the reintroduction, and 3 years after the conclusion of releases.

Characterizing the physical and genetic structure of the lodgepole pine × jack pine hybrid zone: mosaic structure and differential introgression.

Understanding the physical and genetic structure of hybrid zones can illuminate factors affecting their formation and stability. In north-central Alberta, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud.

Phylogeographic insights into an irruptive pest outbreak.

Irruptive forest insect pests cause considerable ecological and economic damage, and their outbreaks have been increasing in frequency and severity. We use a phylogeographic approach to understand the location and progression of an outbreak by the MPB (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins), an irruptive bark beetle that has caused unprecedented damage to lodgepole pine forests in western North America and is poised to expand its range across the boreal forest. We sampled MPB populations across British Columbia and Alberta and used phylogeographic methods to describe lineage diversification, characterize population structure, investigate expansion dynamics, and identify source populations of the outbreak.

Mountain pine beetle host-range expansion threatens the boreal forest.

The current epidemic of the mountain pine beetle (MPB), an indigenous pest of western North American pine, has resulted in significant losses of lodgepole pine. The leading edge has reached Alberta where forest composition shifts from lodgepole to jack pine through a hybrid zone. The susceptibility of jack pine to MPB is a major concern, but there has been no evidence of host-range expansion, in part due to the difficulty in distinguishing the parentals and their hybrids.

Broad and fine-scale genetic analysis of white-tailed deer populations: estimating the relative risk of chronic wasting disease spread.

Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of cervids, similar to sheep scrapie that has only recently been detected in wild populations of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus) in western Canada. Relatively little is known about local transmission dynamics of the disease or the potential for long-distance spread. We analysed the population genetic structure of over 2000 white-tailed deer sampled from Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan using microsatellite profiles and mtDNA sequencing to assess the relative risk of disease spread.

Of glaciers and refugia: a decade of study sheds new light on the phylogeography of northwestern North America.

Glacial cycles have played a dominant role in shaping the genetic structure and distribution of biota in northwestern North America. The two major ice age refugia of Beringia and the Pacific Northwest were connected by major mountain chains and bordered by the Pacific Ocean. As a result, numerous refugial options were available for the regions taxa during glacial advances.

Landscape modelling spatial bottlenecks: implications for raccoon rabies disease spread.

A landscape genetic simulation modelling approach is used to understand factors affecting raccoon rabies disease spread in southern Ontario, Canada. Using the Ontario Rabies Model, we test the hypothesis that landscape configuration (shape of available habitat) affects dispersal, as indicated by genetic structuring. We simulated range expansions of raccoons from New York into vacant landscapes in Ontario, in two areas that differed by the presence or absence of a landscape constriction.

Differential permeability of rivers to raccoon gene flow corresponds to rabies incidence in Ontario, Canada.

The correlation of landscape features with genetic discontinuities reveals barriers to dispersal that can contribute to understanding present and future spread of wildlife diseases. This knowledge can then be used for targeting control efforts. The impact of natural barriers on raccoon dispersal was assessed through genetic analysis of samples from two regions, Niagara (N = 666) and St.