Workshop on Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics, August 4-9th, 2019
Rachael Dudaniec, the lab and Anthony Chariton (MQ) organised the first workshop on ecological and evolutionary genomics held August 4-9th in Katoomba, Blue Mountains, 1.5 hours from Sydney! Topics covered included landscape genomics, detecting selection, genomic structural variants, and DNA metabarcoding. Each day of the workshop was dedicated to a particular topic, with international and national academic presenters. Participants gained theoretical knowledge combined with analytical skills to produce results that are relevant for conservation biology and understanding evolutionary processes. The workshop was open to PhD and Masters students, post-docs, and all levels of faculty. There were 56 total participants, with 45 students from 21 institutions across Australia, New Zealand, India, Germany and the United States. The workshop was funded chiefly by the NSW Chief Scientist Conference Grant Fund.
Keynote presenters:
Ary Hoffman (University of Melbourne, VIC)
Brenna Forester (Colorado State University, USA)
Niko Balkenhol (University of Goettingen, Germany)
Maren Wellenreuther (University of Auckland/ Plant and Food Research, New Zealand)
Anthony Chariton (Macquarie University)
Michael Stat (University of Newcastle)
Please see the workshop website for details and the images gallery from the workshop:
www.weeg2019.com
Rachael Dudaniec, the lab and Anthony Chariton (MQ) organised the first workshop on ecological and evolutionary genomics held August 4-9th in Katoomba, Blue Mountains, 1.5 hours from Sydney! Topics covered included landscape genomics, detecting selection, genomic structural variants, and DNA metabarcoding. Each day of the workshop was dedicated to a particular topic, with international and national academic presenters. Participants gained theoretical knowledge combined with analytical skills to produce results that are relevant for conservation biology and understanding evolutionary processes. The workshop was open to PhD and Masters students, post-docs, and all levels of faculty. There were 56 total participants, with 45 students from 21 institutions across Australia, New Zealand, India, Germany and the United States. The workshop was funded chiefly by the NSW Chief Scientist Conference Grant Fund.
Keynote presenters:
Ary Hoffman (University of Melbourne, VIC)
Brenna Forester (Colorado State University, USA)
Niko Balkenhol (University of Goettingen, Germany)
Maren Wellenreuther (University of Auckland/ Plant and Food Research, New Zealand)
Anthony Chariton (Macquarie University)
Michael Stat (University of Newcastle)
Please see the workshop website for details and the images gallery from the workshop:
www.weeg2019.com
December 12, 2018
To be striped or non-striped? Winged or wingless? A grasshopper mystery....
New paper from PhD student Sonu Yadav on the Wingless Grasshopper (Phaulacridium vittatum) shows morphological variation in wing presence or absence, stripe polymorphism, and body size along environmental gradients. These variations appear to assist this wide-ranging agricultrual insect pest to occupy variable environmental challenging environments. We found the change in body size is positively correlated with solar radiation, a higher number of winged individuals were detected at higher foliage cover sites and more striped individuals were observed at higher solar radiation sites. We have also shown that relative abundance at sites significantly change with latitude, and is influenced by soil moisture, wind speed, and vegetation cover. These associations indicate that this diversity in morphological traits is associated with heterogeneous environments and provides insights in to how insect pests can successfully occupy broad environmental gradients. See the paper here in the Journal of Insect Science: https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iey121
To be striped or non-striped? Winged or wingless? A grasshopper mystery....
New paper from PhD student Sonu Yadav on the Wingless Grasshopper (Phaulacridium vittatum) shows morphological variation in wing presence or absence, stripe polymorphism, and body size along environmental gradients. These variations appear to assist this wide-ranging agricultrual insect pest to occupy variable environmental challenging environments. We found the change in body size is positively correlated with solar radiation, a higher number of winged individuals were detected at higher foliage cover sites and more striped individuals were observed at higher solar radiation sites. We have also shown that relative abundance at sites significantly change with latitude, and is influenced by soil moisture, wind speed, and vegetation cover. These associations indicate that this diversity in morphological traits is associated with heterogeneous environments and provides insights in to how insect pests can successfully occupy broad environmental gradients. See the paper here in the Journal of Insect Science: https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iey121
May 1, 2018
Damselflies in Distress?
Our latest publication in Molecular Ecology, on local adaptation to environment in the range expanding Ischnura elegans in Sweden, is attracting some media attention. Some of it in the links below:
Macquarie University news:
www.mq.edu.au/newsroom/2018/04/30/are-damselflies-in-distress/
Phys.Org Science news
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-damselflies-distress.html
Damselflies in Distress?
Our latest publication in Molecular Ecology, on local adaptation to environment in the range expanding Ischnura elegans in Sweden, is attracting some media attention. Some of it in the links below:
Macquarie University news:
www.mq.edu.au/newsroom/2018/04/30/are-damselflies-in-distress/
Phys.Org Science news
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-damselflies-distress.html
Field work on Australian damselflies 2018!
PhD student Kawsar Khan is embarking on a 2-week field trip to collect species of Ischnura damsleflies along the east coast on Australia (NSW and QLD) with Masters students Sarah Reid-Anderson and Alex Carey. They will be targeting a generalist species that is widespread in Australia (I. heterosticta) and a specialist tropical species I. pruinescens. Data will be used for landscape genomic analysis using RADseq, and complement genomic studies on I. elegans in Sweden and elsewhere with collaborators from Lund University and the University of Aberdeen.
Field work on Australian grasshoppers 2017!
PhD student Sonu Yadav has been busy this January-March collecting grasshoppers all over New South Wales for her landscape genomics project that will look at how generalist and specialist species differ in their adaptive capacities and response to environmental gradients. Field work has taken her up as far as Byron Bay to down in the Snowy Mountains |
Video animation of our review paper
A great video animation was put together by BMC Zoology, which explains some of the issues and research that has been done on Darwin's finches and their parasites on the Galapagos Islands. The video summarises our review paper by Sonia Kleindorfer and Rachael Dudaniec (2016) published in BMC Zoology, which you can find here.
A great video animation was put together by BMC Zoology, which explains some of the issues and research that has been done on Darwin's finches and their parasites on the Galapagos Islands. The video summarises our review paper by Sonia Kleindorfer and Rachael Dudaniec (2016) published in BMC Zoology, which you can find here.
Detecting Selection using SNP data Workshop
On September 1-2 2016 we held a workshop on 'Detecting Environmental Selection using Genomic Data' via the Genes to Geoscience Research Centre at Macquarie University. We had 26 students and four faculty teaching in the workshop: Dr Rachael Dudaniec (organiser), Dr Paul Rymer (Western Sydney Uni) , Dr Jason Bragg (Botanic Gardens Sydney), Assoc. Prof Adam Stow (Macquarie University) and Dr Collin Ahrens (Western Sydney Uni). In the workshop we learned about Environmental Association Analysis (EAA), Fst outlier approaches and geographic data sources and mapping in R!
On September 1-2 2016 we held a workshop on 'Detecting Environmental Selection using Genomic Data' via the Genes to Geoscience Research Centre at Macquarie University. We had 26 students and four faculty teaching in the workshop: Dr Rachael Dudaniec (organiser), Dr Paul Rymer (Western Sydney Uni) , Dr Jason Bragg (Botanic Gardens Sydney), Assoc. Prof Adam Stow (Macquarie University) and Dr Collin Ahrens (Western Sydney Uni). In the workshop we learned about Environmental Association Analysis (EAA), Fst outlier approaches and geographic data sources and mapping in R!
Field Trip to the Galapagos Islands 2016!
In late January 2016 we (Rachael Dudaniec and Sonia Kleindorfer (Flinders University) went to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador to continue our long-term study of Darwin's finches. We worked with colleagues from Harvard University and volunteers from the Charles Darwin Research Station - mist-netting Darwin's finches, monitoring nests and assessing impacts of the deadly nestling parasite, Philornis downsi, on Santa Cruz and Floreana Islands for 4 weeks. Check out the blog we had during our trip at galapagosfinch2016 on wordpress, where we shared our adventures! |
The new lab is ready!
Our new molecular lab is finished in E8C, ready for DNA extraction, genomic library preparations and PCR!
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Our new molecular lab is finished in E8C, ready for DNA extraction, genomic library preparations and PCR!
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