The Conservation Context in Population Genetics, Part 1

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 3 Comments on The Conservation Context in Population Genetics, Part 1
Conservation, Science

This is the first entry in Crowdsourcing ConGen. This entry is meant to be half of an Introduction which lays out the framework for what conservation genetics is, its philosophical basis in population genetics, and why it’s a meaningful method of inquiry for conservation. This first section is meant to outline foundational concepts in population genetics. It is not meant to be a detailed summery of population genetics, but needs to be accurate and clear.

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scientific literacy in the wine bar

Posted on By Bluegrass Blue Crab 2 Comments on scientific literacy in the wine bar
Uncategorized

Researching rural development in coastal communities presents a lot of land mines. I’ll let you imagine and populate that list yourself. Each one of those things deserves its own blog entry at least, or perhaps even a book. But one topic above all others permeates both my personal life and my dissertation research – climate change.

Yes, there are the newly minted signs in my neighborhood declaring the area under the “high water” mark. There’s also the friend who advised me against purchasing a house not because of financial concerns but because said house may be under water soon. There’s also the shift in local fishery species on which the community depends. But let’s set aside the physical realities for a moment…

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Crowdsourcing ConGen

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 8 Comments on Crowdsourcing ConGen
Uncategorized

Conservation genetics provides essential information for the management and protection of species and ecosystems. Despite it wide applicability and concrete, quantifiable output, very few people in management and policy making positions, as well as in the general public, understand what conservation genetics is and how it can be used. Concepts like F-statistics, effective harmonic population size, the coalescent, along with a host of complex and convoluted equations tend to make the literature impenetrable. Add to that an ever changing host of molecular markers – allozymes, AFLPs,RFLPs, SNPs, microsatellites, mtDNA, 28s, and others – each with their own methods, assumptions, and caveats, and the field becomes almost unapproachable, even to other geneticists.

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Piracy isn’t so good for fish after all

Posted on By David Shiffman 2 Comments on Piracy isn’t so good for fish after all
Science

The piracy situation in Somalia is a terrible human tragedy. That’s why when conservationist Joni Lawrence said that it was great because it helped fish stocks to recover,  people like myself and Blogfish author Mark Powell got angry. As it turns out, Joni Lawrence wasn’t just being horribly insensitive- she was wrong.

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Ethical debate: Patient consent and medical progress

Posted on By David Shiffman 60 Comments on Ethical debate: Patient consent and medical progress
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Image from Unt.edu

The interwebs are abuzz with glowing reviews for Rebecca Skloot’s new book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”. I’m currently #37 on the library reserve list (sorry, Rebecca, but I’m a poor grad student and I can’t afford to buy it). The book tells the story of the HeLa cell line, which are cells that were taken from a patient without her consent. These cells have led to important medical breakthroughs. But how isolated of an incident is this?

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365 days of Darwin: February 10, 2010

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on 365 days of Darwin: February 10, 2010
Uncategorized

Today marks a very special 365 days of Darwin. William Saleu and Charlie outside the Sigma Xi center at the end of Science Online 2010. This is the final picture from our adventures at Science Online. But, as one adventure ends, another must begin, and today we are proud to announce that Bomai Cruz has … Read More “365 days of Darwin: February 10, 2010” »