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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. 

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.