Convergent relaxation of molecular constraint in herbivores reveals the changing role of liver and kidney functions across mammalian diets.

Mammalia comprises a great diversity of diet types and associated adaptations. An understanding of the genomic mechanisms underlying these adaptations may offer insights for improving human health. Comparative genomic studies of diet that employ taxonomically restricted analyses or simplified diet classifications may suffer reduced power to detect molecular convergence associated with diet evolution.

Genetic architecture and evolution of color variation in American black bears.

Color variation is a frequent evolutionary substrate for camouflage in small mammals, but the underlying genetics and evolutionary forces that drive color variation in natural populations of large mammals are mostly unexplained. The American black bear, Ursus americanus (U. americanus), exhibits a range of colors including the cinnamon morph, which has a similar color to the brown bear, U.

Phylogeographic analysis delimits three evolutionary significant units of least chipmunks in North America and identifies unique genetic diversity within the imperiled Peñasco population.

Although least chipmunks () are a widely distributed North American species of least concern, the southernmost population, (Peñasco least chipmunk), is imperiled and a candidate for federal listing as a subspecies. We conducted a phylogeographic analysis across the range to assess genomic differentiation and distinctiveness of the population. Additionally, we leveraged the historical component of sampling to conduct a temporal analysis of genetic diversity and also considered climate change effects on range persistence probability by projecting a species distribution model into the IPCC5 RCP 2.

Environmental genomics of Late Pleistocene black bears and giant short-faced bears.

Analysis of ancient environmental DNA (eDNA) has revolutionized our ability to describe biological communities in space and time, by allowing for parallel sequencing of DNA from all trophic levels. However, because environmental samples contain sparse and fragmented data from multiple individuals, and often contain closely related species, the field of ancient eDNA has so far been limited to organellar genomes in its contribution to population and phylogenetic studies. This is in contrast to data from fossils where full-genome studies are routine, despite these being rare and their destruction for sequencing undesirable.