SPEAKER: Alana Alexander, Rutherford Postdoctoral Fellow, University
of OtagoTOPIC: Ecological time-traveling via molecular ecology
Genetic data is useful for filling in gaps in ecological inference,
both in terms of temporal scales – allowing inferences across deep
time – but also because the relatively simple sampling procedures
can be carried out over large spatial scales. Here, I will step
through some examples of time-traveling molecular ecology, ranging
from broad spatial and deep temporal scales (global spatial scales
over the last 125,000 years in sperm whales), to finer spatial and
temporal scales (just a few kilometres over three decades in a
chickadee hybrid zone in Missouri). I'll finish off with a description
of my current research at the University of Otago: looking at
population dynamics from the distant to the recent past in the
critically-endangered Māui dolphin and endangered Hector's dolphin
subspecies endemic to New Zealand waters.
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22/11/2019 Last update