Category Archives: Molecular Ecology, the journal

The biggest problem in landscape genetics and how to fix it

Landscape genetics is a field that has expanded rapidly in recent years, but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t gone without criticism. Perhaps the largest problem with landscape genetics (LG) studies is one of timing. If you observe genetic differentiation … Continue reading

Posted in methods, Molecular Ecology, the journal, population genetics | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Large predators, large data, large conservation issues

We are a diverse group here at The Molecular Ecologist. Melissa writes love letters to sponges. Stacy takes you on exotic kelp road trips. Arun gives you another excuse to spend the afternoon playing with R. I feel that it is … Continue reading

Posted in conservation, Molecular Ecology, the journal, pedigree | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

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

Posted in adaptation, evolution, genomics, Molecular Ecology, the journal, natural history, population genetics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Genetic distance predicts the spread of deadly fungal infections in bats

You’ve probably heard about White-Nose Syndrome (WNS), the particularly nasty fungal pathogen that has decimated North American bat populations over the last decade. Not only has WNS been extremely deadly, but the speed at which it’s spread has been alarming. Really alarming: Understanding … Continue reading

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Environmental association analyses: a practical guide for a practical guide

Obtaining extensive SNP data for your organism of choice isn’t such a feat these days, but actually matching that breadth of data with appropriate analyses is still a challenge. Fortunately, there has been an avalanche of new methods to make … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, association genetics, methods, Molecular Ecology, the journal | Tagged | 1 Comment

Where's your wine from?

Human-mediated selection of yeast cultures has played a huge role in the development of numerous unique strains of Sacchromyces cerevisiae, often attributed to production of a wide variety of wines the world over. Previous studies have indicated a single domesticated … Continue reading

Posted in domestication, evolution, genomics, horizontal gene transfer, microbiology, Molecular Ecology, the journal, next generation sequencing, phylogenetics, phylogeography, population genetics, STRUCTURE, yeast | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Selection scans, and the genomics of adaptive/maladaptive introgression

Natural selection, and the adaptive evolution of hybrid reproductive incompatibilities post divergence are known to be major drivers of speciation. At the phenotype level, these manifest as fitness differences between introgressing populations. At the genomic level, speciation “genes” or “islands” … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, Coevolution, evolution, genomics, Molecular Ecology, the journal, mutation, natural history, population genetics, selection, speciation, theory | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

When and how to "go for the genes"

A new special issue of Molecular Ecology, entitled “Detecting selection in natural populations: making sense of genome scans and towards alternative solutions”, is coming down the line, and a few articles from that issue are starting to appear as newly-accepted. Seeing those … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, association genetics, Molecular Ecology, the journal | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Adapting to the new wave of isolation by environment

Isolation by environment, not distance, explains the genetic relationship between an avian taxon among Madrean Sky Islands, according to a new study appearing in Molecular Ecology by Manthey and Moyle. The authors throw the kitchen sink of new analyses at a combination … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, Molecular Ecology, the journal, phylogeography | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The evolution of phylogeography in the next gen era: 20 years in review

Phylogeographers have long known about the limitations of single locus studies (ie, the effects of selective sweeps, stochasticity in lineage sorting among loci) and that adding loci improves the accuracy of demographic parameter estimates. As we continue to shift towards collecting multi-locus datasets thanks to high throughput … Continue reading

Posted in evolution, genomics, Molecular Ecology, the journal, next generation sequencing, phylogeography, Uncategorized | 3 Comments