Reading the Landscape: Detecting evidence of animal dispersal in spatial genomic data

Speaker: Paul Galpern

Abstract: Landscape genetics and landscape genomics are increasingly used to understand how features of the landscape have affected organism movement and dispersal in the recent past. Applications are many, including managing the risks of habitat fragmentation for animals of conservation concern, mitigating the spread of invasive species, and limiting the transmission of zoonotic diseases. However, subtle influences of the landscape on organism dispersal may be difficult to detect from genetic data. In particular, organisms with highly-mobile life history stages are hard to study. Here, I discuss the potential for genomics to improve a reading of the landscape for highly-mobile dispersers. Using simulations, I also explore the advantages and limitations of a new spatial analysis, applied to genomic data, for detecting cryptic influences on dispersal.

This presentation was part of the Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5th Anniversary Symposium. To see other videos from the Symposium, please visit our website: bit.ly/1FRpIMV