Category Archives: evolution

(Un)usual sources of ancient DNA

Working with ancient DNA can be quite painful at times, but hard work pays off (or so they say) and scientists are starting to reap great benefits from their effort by exploring more and more things to extract DNA from.

Posted in evolution, genomics, methods, Paleogenomics | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Hype Cycle of Ancient DNA

Recently I saw a graph that I’ve learnt is called the Hype Cycle and is a methodology used in assessment of new technologies and their marketing. What strikes me about it is how well it fits my own research field, … Continue reading

Posted in evolution, natural history, Paleogenomics, phylogenetics, population genetics, theory | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Mapping genomes and navigating behavior for wildlife conservation

Virginia Aida wrote this post as a final project for Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is currently evaluating a potential pharmacotherapy in traumatic brain injury and anticipates graduating with her MS in summer 2017.  Although she … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, association genetics, bioinformatics, blogging, conservation, domestication, evolution, natural history | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Like Turtles, Terrapin Research Moves a Little Slow

Marlee Hayes wrote this post as a final project for Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her primary interests focus on challenges in conservation and sustainability. Previously, she evaluated fitness of post-hatchling Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin), … Continue reading

Posted in blogging, community ecology, conservation, evolution, natural history, population genetics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Different ways to have sex, yet still be a weed

Baker (1955) noticed that when mates are lacking, the ability to undergo self-fertilization will greatly enhance colonization success. Uniparental reproduction seems to be common in colonizing species, whether it’s from a continent to an oceanic island, during a biological invasion or during range … Continue reading

Posted in Coevolution, comparative phylogeography, evolution, natural history, phylogeography, population genetics, selection | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Small Molecules, Big Differences

Mary Latimer wrote this post as a final project for Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a third year PhD student at UAB studying miRNAs and methionine restriction. Her hobbies include cats, netflix, … Continue reading

Posted in bioinformatics, blogging, evolution, genomics, natural history, next generation sequencing, RNAseq | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Polyploidy in the era of GBS

Ploidy, dear reader, is something that I think about literally all the time. It impacts every facet of my research from the field to the bench to the stats used to analyze data sets. It’s been simultaneously the greatest and the … Continue reading

Posted in bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, haploid-diploid, Molecular Ecology, the journal, natural history, plants, speciation | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Molting on the molecular level: how blue crabs become soft-shell crabs

Megan Roegner wrote this post as a final project for Stacy Krueger-Hadfield’s Science Communication course at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Megan spent her early years in Cape Town, South Africa playing in the tidal pools along the coast and developing … Continue reading

Posted in bioinformatics, blogging, conservation, domestication, evolution, genomics, natural history | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Hybridization and adaptive radiations

As an iconic system in evolutionary biology, I’ve always been interested in African cichlids and the origins of their diversity1. These cichlids represent an adaptive radiation; they’ve evolved rapidly from a single origin to exploit and speciate into open niches … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, evolution, genomics, next generation sequencing, population genetics, speciation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Deep in the meadow, under the … seagrass, a bed of temporally stable diversity?

Genetically diverse populations are often more stable and productive. For habitat-forming organisms, such as seagrasses, this results in increased habitat complexity and more abundant associated communities (e.g., Hughes and Stachowicz 2004, Reusch et al. 2005).  Spatial patterns of genetic diversity … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, community ecology, conservation, evolution, phylogeography, population genetics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment