Top three of 2015 – Rob Denton

We had a great 2015 at The Molecular Ecologist. The blog’s contributors provided more than 200 posts last year. Maybe you’ve read a few or maybe you’ve read them all. Either way, things are getting even better in 2016.
As we start this year with new ideas for content and new directions for how to deliver it, we are all looking back on what worked (and didn’t) last year. As part of looking back, we want to share our best posts (by pageviews) from 2015. Whether you missed them, read them, or forgot all about them, here are my top three:
1. The unforeseen genomic consequences of domestication

This post from August 26th discussed a new paper that showed how the accumulation of deleterious mutations in domestic crops varied depending on how those crops were domesticated. The extensive dataset, established authors, and well-written paper made this post a favorite from 2015.
 
2. Don’t trust your data: reviewing Bioinformatics Data Skills

Vince Buffalo was nice enough to send me a preliminary version of his new book Bioinformatics Data Skills early in 2015, and the resultant review appeared on the blog on April 8th. This book certainly deserved the attention and has been a frequent link sent to colleagues as a recommendation.
 
3. Reviewing the reviews: Twelve years of Landscape Genetics

The idea for this post was very straightforward: if the demand for literature reviews about landscape genetics was great enough to have multiple of them in just a few years, then a summary of those reviews might be helpful for a general audience.
 
BONUS
4. Should we use Mantel tests in molecular ecology?

I’m adding my fourth-highest viewed post to this list, because it was probably my favorite. I remember when I first read Jeremy Fox’s ideas about “Zombie Ideas in Ecology”, ideas that stick around in a field despite significant refutation. Using Mantel tests for spatial statistics seemingly fits this definition, so I loved this paper by Legendre et al.  that succinctly shows when Mantel tests are useful and when they should be avoided. I was happy to see how many TME readers agreed and shared this post accordingly.