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This exercise is intended to provide students with a real-world example of how museum specimens can provide additional context to challenges and considerations in the broader field of applied conservation genomics. After a brief introduction to the study system—the conservation status of Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus)—students will be asked to review an open-access, peer-reviewed publication that features samples from varied museum, archaeological, and paleontological contexts. Through reading the guide and discussion questions, students will reflect upon study design, concepts, and challenges presented at the intersection between the fields of conservation genomics and museum-based studies. The exercise ends with students breaking down the research into the main components (e.g., research question, independent and dependent variables, hypotheses, predictions) to set a structure for critically reading other scientific studies or designing their own research question.
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Conservation genomics of natural and managed populations: building a conceptual and practical framework
Abstract The boom of massive parallel sequencing (MPS) technology and its applications in conservation of natural and managed populations brings new opportunities and challenges to meet the scientific questions that can be addressed. Genomic conservation offers a wide range of approaches and analytical techniques, with their respective strengths and weaknesses that rely on several implicit assumptions. However, finding the most suitable approaches and analysis regarding our scientific question are often difficult and time‐consuming. To address this gap, a recent workshop entitled ‘ConGen 2015’ was held at Montana University in order to bring together the knowledge accumulated in this field and to provide training in conceptual and practical aspects of data analysis applied to the field of conservation and evolutionary genomics. Here, we summarize the expertise yield by each instructor that has led us to consider the importance of keeping in mind the scientific question from sampling to management practices along with the selection of appropriate genomics tools and bioinformatics challenges.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1537959
- PAR ID:
- 10246686
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Molecular Ecology
- Volume:
- 25
- Issue:
- 13
- ISSN:
- 0962-1083
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 2967-2977
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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