BIO2050 - Genetics in Ecology & Conservation

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General Unit Information

Why does a particular bird species live where it does and what happens to populations when most of their habitat is removed? How do butterflies move around a landscape and how far will they be able to adapt to climate change? What happens to flowering plants when their pollinators become very rare? Why have Tasmanian Devils so suddenly and dramatically been struck down by a kind of cancer, and can the species survive? Why do invasive ants form super-colonies tens or hundreds of kilometers across when they arrive in new countries, while such giant colonies do not exist in the native range of the ants?

Through ecology we seek to understand the patterns of natural systems of animals, plants and other organisms. In conservation biology, we look for solutions to undo the colossal negative impacts humans have on those systems. Increasingly, ecology and conservation biology are enabled and enriched by an explosion in the capacity of genetic approaches and concepts. This unit explains the significance of genetics in ecology and conservation, and trains students how to be more effective biologists through the use of powerful modern ideas and technologies.

Genetic approaches in ecology conservation make two very different kinds of contributions. On one hand, all organisms have a genome that contains instructions for how the individual is built, how it functions and how it interacts with its environment. Understanding this has profound implications for being able to explain why natural systems are the way they are, and comprehending and managing the way that humans change the world. On the other hand, a large proportion of an organism's genome contains DNA that does not appear to affect the attributes of the organism but is an incredibly informative library of information about the individual, its parents / grandparents / other ancestors, the population of its birth, its species and the relationships of its species to other species.

This unit introduces students to different kinds of genetic variation and the ways in which they are, and are not, important in fitness of individual organisms and viability of populations. There follows an investigation of how ecological and conservation genetics is applied to real-world research and biological management, in a coherent progression from fine scale 'wildlife forensics', relatedness, parentage, through 'landscape genetics' to phylogeography and phylogenetics. The concepts are illustrated by exploration of exciting examples encompassing pure and applied science, including urban ecology, invasion and conservation biology, global change ecology, and associated practical work. We explore the relationship between genetic variation and extinction risk of populations and species. Finally, we investigate how genetic variation in organisms is associated with ecosystem function, ecological community structure and protection against environmental change.

Objectives

After completing this unit the student will:

1. understand the principles underlying interactions between the genotypes of organisms and their environment;
2. understand the application of those principles to ecology and conservation management and thus comprehend the roles of this field of study as it applies to society;
3. be able to apply practical and analytical skills in ecological, evolutionary and conservation genetics involved in the conduct of ecological studies;
4. be able to apply principles of experimental and survey design, data collection and interpretation, in the field of ecological and conservation genetics;
5. be able to synthesize and communicate scientific principles and information underlying ecological and conservation genetics in oral and/or written formats.

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Specific Unit Information

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