Publications by authors named "Katarina C Stuart"

The field of conservation genomics is becoming increasingly interested in whether, and how, structural variant (SV) genotype information can be leveraged in the management of threatened species. The functional consequences of SVs are more complex than for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), as SVs typically impact a larger proportion of the genome due to their size and thus may be more likely to contribute to load. While the impacts of SV-specific genetic load may be less consequential for large populations, the interplay between weakened selection and stochastic processes means that smaller populations, such as those of the threatened Aotearoa hihi/New Zealand stitchbird (Notiomystis cincta), may harbour a high SV load.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Invasive species offer uniquely replicated model systems to study rapid adaptation. The common myna (Acridotheres tristis) has been introduced to over a dozen countries and is classified as one of the most invasive birds in the world. Their multiple invasions provide an opportunity to identify repeated adaptation, as invasive populations originated from multiple source populations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The growth of human populations has led to the increase of invasive species around the world, making it crucial to study how their introduction and subsequent processes affect current diversity and structure.
  • - The European starling, introduced to New Zealand in the 19th century, serves as a case study for examining genetic population structure and diversity through reduced representation sequencing.
  • - Findings revealed limited gene flow within New Zealand's starling population, confirmed historical translocation events, and highlighted the importance of genomic analysis for understanding invasive species management and gene flow.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recombination, the process of DNA exchange between homologous chromosomes during meiosis, plays a major role in genomic diversity and evolutionary change. Variation in recombination rate is widespread despite recombination often being essential for progression of meiosis. One such variation is heterochiasmy, where recombination rates differ between sexes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In an era of global climate change, biodiversity conservation is receiving increased attention. Conservation efforts are greatly aided by genetic tools and approaches, which seek to understand patterns of genetic diversity and how they impact species health and their ability to persist under future climate regimes. Invasive species offer vital model systems in which to investigate questions regarding adaptive potential, with a particular focus on how changes in genetic diversity and effective population size interact with novel selection regimes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

AbstractTransitions from sexual to asexual reproduction have occurred in numerous lineages, but it remains unclear why asexual populations rarely persist. In facultatively parthenogenetic animals, all-female populations can arise when males are absent or become extinct, and such populations could help to understand the genetic and phenotypic changes that occur in the initial stages of transitions to asexuality. We investigated a naturally occurring spatial mosaic of mixed-sex and all-female populations of the facultatively parthenogenetic Australian phasmid .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Human activities are accelerating rates of biological invasions and climate-driven range expansions globally, yet we understand little of how genomic processes facilitate the invasion process. Although most of the literature has focused on underlying phenotypic correlates of invasiveness, advances in genomic technologies are showing a strong link between genomic variation and invasion success. Here, we consider the ability of genomic tools and technologies to (i) inform mechanistic understanding of biological invasions and (ii) solve real-world issues in predicting and managing biological invasions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A species' success during the invasion of new areas hinges on an interplay between the demographic processes common to invasions and the specific ecological context of the novel environment. Evolutionary genetic studies of invasive species can investigate how genetic bottlenecks and ecological conditions shape genetic variation in invasions, and our study pairs two invasive populations that are hypothesized to be from the same source population to compare how each population evolved during and after introduction. Invasive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) established populations in both Australia and North America in the 19th century.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Genetic divergence is the fundamental process that drives evolution and ultimately speciation. Structural variants (SVs) are large-scale genomic differences within a species or population and can cause functionally important phenotypic differences. Characterizing SVs across invasive species will fill knowledge gaps regarding how patterns of genetic diversity and genetic architecture shape rapid adaptation under new selection regimes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Two fundamental questions for evolutionary studies are the speed at which evolution occurs, and the way that this evolution may present itself within an organism's genome. Evolutionary studies on invasive populations are poised to tackle some of these pressing questions, including understanding the mechanisms behind rapid adaptation, and how it facilitates population persistence within a novel environment. Investigation of these questions are assisted through recent developments in experimental, sequencing, and analytical protocols; in particular, the growing accessibility of next generation sequencing has enabled a broader range of taxa to be characterised.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The European starling, Sturnus vulgaris, is an ecologically significant, globally invasive avian species that is also suffering from a major decline in its native range. Here, we present the genome assembly and long-read transcriptome of an Australian-sourced European starling (S. vulgaris vAU), and a second, North American, short-read genome assembly (S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Patterns of covariation between phenotype and environment are presumed to be reflective of local adaptation, and therefore translate to a meaningful influence on an individual's overall fitness within that specific environment. However, these environmentally driven patterns may be the result of numerous and interacting processes, such as genetic variation, epigenetic variation, or plastic non-heritable variation. Understanding the relative importance of different environmental variables on underlying genetic patterns and resulting phenotypes is fundamental to understanding adaptation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

During the Anthropocene, Earth has experienced unprecedented habitat loss, native species decline and global climate change. Concurrently, greater globalization is facilitating species movement, increasing the likelihood of alien species establishment and propagation. There is a great need to understand what influences a species' ability to persist or perish within a new or changing environment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A detailed understanding of population genetics in invasive populations helps us to identify drivers of successful alien introductions. Here, we investigate putative signals of selection in Australian populations of invasive common starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, and seek to understand how these have been influenced by introduction history. We used reduced representation sequencing to determine population structure, and identify Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) that are putatively under selection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: fopen(/var/lib/php/sessions/ci_sessioncqe4l5h3bnil3qdibrg3a5gk2a3t3d0i): Failed to open stream: No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 177

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_start(): Failed to read session data: user (path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Session/Session.php

Line Number: 137

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once