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.
Erin and Charlie post #MMISS
It’s been a long time since we’ve reposted this video. Even Osedax needs some love.
Hundred-leven to 1, Polyandry like Crazy!
~Southern Fried Scientist
Lyrics below the jump:
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.
Charlie and Maria after the #MMISS talk.
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?
Read More “Ethical debate: Patient consent and medical progress” »
Digging through my old hard drive this morning, I found this image. Yes, this is the boat. So here’s the deal: Submit your best stories to Bluegrass Blue Crab’s Ocean Story Slam. For every week we don’t get a submission, I’m going to post a picture of a hog lagoon. You have been warned. ~Southern … Read More “Not So Happy Humpday” »
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” »
A visit to my old stomping grounds of Forks, WA this past summer made me realize how much things had changed since I lived in the area. It wasn’t an abundance of second homes and big box stores one might expect to come over time to a coastal community. One thing had changed and Forks will never be the same: Twilight.
Intricately linked to life in Forks, now and before, are the Quileute people, who live in the nearby town of LaPush where the Ho River meets the Pacific Ocean. Across from their square kilometer reservation is one of the most scenic views Olympic National Park has to offer.
Read More “Twilight, Forks, and the Quileute – cultural identity theft?” »
Charlie and Karen ponder life, the universe, and everything.