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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.307.5710.673c | DOI Listing |
Mol Ecol
January 2025
School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
Advances in next-generation sequencing have allowed the use of DNA obtained from unusual sources for wildlife studies. However, these samples have been used predominantly to sequence mitochondrial DNA for species identification while population genetics analyses have been rare. Since next-generation sequencing allows indiscriminate detection of all DNA fragments in a sample, technically it should be possible to sequence whole genomes of animals from environmental samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcol Evol
January 2025
Molecular Ecology and Evolution Programme, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology University of Pretoria Pretoria South Africa.
The reduced cost of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has allowed researchers to generate nuclear and mitochondrial genome data to gain deeper insights into the phylogeography, evolutionary history and biology of non-model species. While the Cape buffalo () has been well-studied across its range with traditional genetic markers over the last 25 years, researchers are building on this knowledge by generating whole genome, population-level data sets to improve understanding of the genetic composition and evolutionary history of the species. Using publicly available NGS data, we assembled 40 Cape buffalo mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from four protected areas in South Africa, expanding the geographical range and almost doubling the number of mitogenomes available for this species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcol Lett
December 2024
UC Santa Cruz, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Santa Cruz, California, USA.
Long-term studies are critical for ecological understanding, but they are underutilized as inclusive opportunities for training ecologists. We use our perspective from the Año Nuevo elephant seal programme along with surveys from community members to propose that long-term studies could be better leveraged to promote inclusive education and professional development in ecology. Drawing on our experiences as mentors and mentees, we demonstrate how long-term studies can use their resources, including rich data, robust logistics and extensive professional networks, to improve recruitment and retention of diverse groups of trainees.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Data
December 2024
Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan.
Northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) have been integral to the development and progress of biologging technology and movement data analysis, which continue to improve our understanding of this and other species. Adult female elephant seals at Año Nuevo Reserve and other colonies along the west coast of North America were tracked annually from 2004 to 2020, resulting in a total of 653 instrument deployments. This paper outlines the compilation and curation process of these high-resolution diving and location data, now accessible in two Dryad repositories.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrends Ecol Evol
December 2024
Center for Integrative Conservation and Yunnan Key Laboratory for the Conservation of Tropical Rainforests and Asian Elephants, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yunnan 6663030, China; Honorary Research Associate, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, TW9 3AE, UK. Electronic address:
Extinctions occur when enough individual plants die without replacement to extirpate a population, and all populations are extirpated. While the ultimate drivers of plant extinctions are known, the proximate mechanisms at individual and population level are not. The fossil record supports climate change as the major driver until recently, with land-use change dominating in recent millennia.
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