Publications by authors named "Stephen Pollett"
Understanding population connectivity and genetic diversity is of fundamental importance to conservation. However, in globally threatened marine megafauna, challenges remain due to their elusive nature and wide-ranging distributions. As overexploitation continues to threaten biodiversity across the globe, such knowledge gaps compromise both the suitability and effectiveness of management actions.
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- The study focuses on conserving manta and devil rays, which are facing global threats, but face challenges due to their similar physical traits and recent changes in their classification.
- Researchers generated genome-wide SNP data to clarify the evolutionary relationships and species boundaries of these rays, revealing that current species classifications may not reflect distinct evolutionary lineages.
- The findings suggest the existence of a new manta ray species in the Gulf of Mexico and highlight the importance of detailed genetic analysis for effective conservation strategies, including managing genetic diversity below the species level.