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Category Archives: evolution
Anti-predatory adaptations in sticklebacks and butterflies
Two recent studies analyze character shifts in response to different selection regimes – (1) Mullerian mimicry wing patterns in Heliconius butterflies, and (2) anti-intraguild-predator adaptations in armor and shape of threespine sticklebacks. Hoyal Cuthill and Charleston 2015 Wing patterning genes … Continue reading
Clinal genomic variation in Drosophila species
Two recent manuscripts describe adaptive evolutions to clinal/latitudinal variations in Drosophila species to supplement a growing wealth of recent studies on geographic variation and adaptive evolution in natural populations of fruitflies (eg. see Kao et al. 2015, Zhao et al. … Continue reading
To the final estuaries
For the final stop on our Japanese sampling leg, we ventured to the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Tokyo was known as Edo (江戸), or estuary, until it became the imperial capital in 1868. An apt location to end our field expedition … Continue reading
Posted in blogging, domestication, evolution, haploid-diploid
Tagged Field work, Gracilaria, Japan, Tokyo
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Genomics of domestication in chicken and cattle
Two recent studies attempt to understand the process of adaptive evolution in domestication and artificial selection by characterizing (a) sweeps, and their association with phenotypes in extant hybrid lines (Sheng et al. 2015), and (b) phylogenomic position of an extinct … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, bioinformatics, domestication, evolution, genomics, natural history, Paleogenomics, phylogeography, population genetics, selection, speciation, STRUCTURE
Tagged domestication, ecological speciation, Evolution, hybridization, natural selection, population genetics, population structure
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Three Views of Japan
By the time we reached Sendai, we were heading into our fourth week of sharing one tiny suitcase of clothes, while bags of silica were luxuriously spread across three large suitcases! Games of Jenga in the teeny rental cars were … Continue reading
Posted in blogging, community, evolution, haploid-diploid, natural history
Tagged 2015, Field work, Gracilaria, Japan, seaweed, Sendai
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On false positives in Isolation with Migration analyses
The IM suite of tools (IM, IMa, IMa2, IMa2p, etc.) are used widely by molecular ecologists at large for the analyses and estimation of ancestral demography under an Isolation with Migration (IM) model. However, these tools come with fundamental assumptions … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, genomics, howto, IMa2, methods, Molecular Ecology views, natural history, population genetics, software, theory
Tagged Evolution, gene flow, genomics, IM, isolation with migration, methods, migration, population genetics
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On background selection in Ficedula flycatchers
Several recent studies (including those I wrote about last week) use genome-wide scans of differentiation to understand evolutionary mechanisms behind high or low divergence. However, there has been contentious support for and against these differentiation islands being due to differential … Continue reading
An unspoiled frontier
“An unspoiled frontier, an escape from industrialized Japan and a chance to connect with nature …” or so says the Rough Guide to Japan (6th edition, September 2014). We had experienced a bit of the city-scene in Hakodate, but the rest … Continue reading
Posted in blogging, conservation, evolution, natural history, population genetics
Tagged Field work, Gracilaria, Hokkaido, Japan
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Introgression history in sticklebacks and oaks
Speciation theory has many monikers for differential gene flow – migration, introgression, admixture, hybridization, secondary contact. As a homogenizing process, gene flow at large acts to reduce differentiation between populations post-divergence. However, selection and demography affect the rates of gene … Continue reading