Category Archives: evolution

Genomics of Hybridization – Part 1

Posted on 21 Jan, 2016 by Arun Sethuraman

In a series of articles, I will discuss recent advances in hybridization genomics – the fundamentals of adaptive introgression, “islands of speciation”, differential gene flow, and linked selection have been discussed in my previous posts (here, here, and also at … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, genomics, methods, natural history, next generation sequencing, pedigree, phylogenetics, plants, population genetics, RNAseq, software, speciation, species delimitation, STRUCTURE, theory, transcriptomics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An evolutionary cycle …

Posted on 15 Jan, 2016 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Rescan, Lenormand and Roze (2016) recently published new models on the evolution of life cycles in The American Naturalist. Most animals and protists have diploid life cycles in which the haploid stage is reduced to a single-celled gamete. Other organisms, such … Continue reading →

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Earthquakes and rapid evolution

Posted on 7 Jan, 2016 by Arun Sethuraman

The 1964 Alaskan earthquake was landscape-altering in creating/uplifting numerous islands in the Gulf of Alaska, providing an ideal system to study adaptive evolution of diversification in affected species – the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) being a widely studied example. In … Continue reading →

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It's not you, it's my genes: Sexual fidelity tradeoffs in prairie voles

Posted on 15 Dec, 2015 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

Many of you may probably already know the monogamous prairie vole as the yin to the promiscuous montane vole’s yang. Prairie voles are socially monogamous, which is an extremely rare trait among mammals. This trait has made the prairie vole … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, genomics, next generation sequencing, selection | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Gracilaria , currywurst and aebleskivers

Posted on 14 Dec, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Another travelogue for a Monday afternoon! Our first official European stop on the Gracilaria vermiculophylla tour was in Germany and Denmark hosted by a colleague without whom we wouldn’t have been able to embark on this adventure! I first met Florian Weinberger … Continue reading →

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An Oedipus complex in mosses?

Posted on 11 Dec, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Nannandrous … phyllodioicous … gotta love botanical terms and these will most definitely find their way into this week’s list of favorite words! Both refer to the tiny epiphytic nature of males situated on much larger female shoots. There may be many … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, haploid-diploid, plants, population genetics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Long distance dispersal of modern humans outside of Africa

Posted on 10 Dec, 2015 by Arun Sethuraman

Long distance dispersal (LDD) has long known to be an artifact of human migrations out of Africa. However, the effects of LDD on modern human diversity, and models of LDD in human colonization are yet to be characterized. Using an … Continue reading →

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Pre-adapted algal ancestors colonized land

Posted on 7 Dec, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

The colonization of land by plants 450 Mya marked a major transition on Earth and was one of the critical events that led to the emergence of extant terrestrial ecosystems. Chief among the challenges the terrestrial environment presented for these … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, bioinformatics, Coevolution, evolution, genomics, haploid-diploid, next generation sequencing, phylogenetics, plants, transcriptomics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Best laid plans of algae and academics oft go astray

Posted on 4 Dec, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

When you’re stuck in R and feel some procrastination is in order … write another travelogue post! I’ve wanted to spin some yarns about field mishaps. There’s no way we could sample over 45 sites without something going wrong. For our Northeast … Continue reading →

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The scent of home

Posted on 3 Dec, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

We decided to divide and conquere the west coast of North America in search of more populations of Gracilaria vermiculophylla, as if we didn’t already have enough by Midsummer’s Eve! I headed to my home state – California. I was able to sneak … Continue reading →

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