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Measuring GENomic diversity change over time in avian enDANGERED species

Projektbeschreibung

Auf der Spur der genomischen Vielfalt in einer sich schnell verändernden Umwelt

Durch menschliche Eingriffe in die Umwelt nimmt die biologische Vielfalt, und infolgedessen auch die genomische Vielfalt der Arten ständig ab. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt GENDANGERED zielt darauf ab, die Veränderungen der genomischen Diversitätssignaturen im Genom nach dem Rückgang Populationen zu verfolgen und die Wirksamkeit von Erhaltungsmaßnahmen unter zukünftigen Umweltbedingungen vorherzusagen. Ansätze, die sich auf reduzierte Teile des Genoms konzentrieren und/oder solche, die auf die Verwendung von zeitgenössischen Proben beschränkt sind, genügen diesen Ansprüchen nicht. In Anbetracht dieser Tatsache wird das Projekt einen Ansatz verwenden, der Computermodellierung mit empirischen genomischen Daten kombiniert.

Ziel

Biodiversity is declining at alarming rates mostly due to anthropogenic impacts, such as climate and land-use change. This in turn generates reductions in the genomic diversity that species require to persist and adapt in the face of future environmental change. Thus, a thorough understanding of how genomic diversity changes in the face of species’ declines is essential for planning conservation actions. The use of genetics in conservation biology has been extremely valuable in recent decades, and the quick adoption of cutting-edge genomics tools offer new and powerful insights, however, important challenges are yet to be tackled. Crucially, the conditions that lead to genomic diversity decline, and the details of how exactly genomic diversity is lost in response to population decline are currently unknown. Current approaches focusing on reduced portions of the genome, and/or limited to the use of contemporary samples, are not enough. To fill these gaps in knowledge, I propose a plan that combines computer modelling with empirical genomic data to unveil signatures of genomic diversity change over time after recent global environmental change. The proposal consists of three complementary steps. (1) Simulate how genomic diversity declines across the genome according to different demographic models. (2) Obtain the first directly observed estimates of the pace, amount and type of genomic diversity change using whole-genome sequencing from historical (i.e. pre-decline) and contemporary (i.e. post-decline) avian samples. (3) Simulate common conservation practices to develop a predictive modelling tool capable of guiding conservation management in light of future environmental change. Altogether, this approach will allow me to dissect how genetic diversity is lost across the genome after population declines, estimate the pace at which this happens over recent time-scale and generate predictions for the efficacy of conservation actions into future environmental conditions.

Koordinator

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
Netto-EU-Beitrag
€ 219 312,00
Adresse
NORREGADE 10
1165 Kobenhavn
Dänemark

Auf der Karte ansehen

Region
Danmark Hovedstaden Byen København
Aktivitätstyp
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Gesamtkosten
€ 219 312,00