Check it out here:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1755-0998http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1755-0998
Publication information, pretty pictures, and mammal factoids!
After months of being published online, two of my methods papers are now officially incorporated to the special issue of Molecular Ecology Resources! We submitted two images for the two articles, the mammal mitogenome array (MMA) and the second our EctoBaits project. Both of these projects incorporate next generation sequencing coupled with sequence capture. The MMA enriches degraded museum specimens for a variety of mitogenomes spanning ~50% of mammal diversity, and EctoBaits enrich host, parasite and pathogens of samples simultaneously. I've been fortunate to be involved with both, and had great co-authors along the way!
Check it out here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1755-0998http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1755-0998
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The annual mammal meeting was held in Minneapolis this year. While ASM is always a great time, I particularly enjoyed this years meeting. Each year it is like going home to see a quirky extended family of great scientists, and even better friends. This year I presented preliminary data on the greater bamboo lemur genome. Below are some of the tweets from my talk. #asmgopher :)I'm very excited to be heading to the American Society of Mammalogists annual meeting in a couple of weeks! This will be my first year participating as a postdoc, and I will be presenting data I've been tirelessly analyzing from the greater bamboo lemur's genome (with LOTS of help from our bioinformatician Ryan!). I have a few really exciting results to present, sorry no spoilers here ;) summarizing the demographic history of this species. Below is a very special picture of me holding 'Gryff' one of the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership's (see link below) monitored individuals from Kianjavato. This was mere moments before Gryff (who is sedated here), urinated and defecated all over me. This mammalogist considers that a badge of honor. How many people have been pooped on by one of the rarest lemurs in the world? #fieldworkfail #lovemyjob #jealous?
The third paper from my dissertation is now out! This chapter investigates the phylogenetic placement of the endemic squirrels of Sulawesi. This is one of the rare groups of animals which has crossed Wallace's Line (the biogeographic break between Asian and Australian animals). We extracted and sequenced DNA from museum specimens, because although I've spent a great deal of time traveling during my dissertation, I wasn't able to go to Sulawesi. Hopefully sometime though! Check out the (open access) paper here:
After (happily) missing the majority of Omaha's winter, I am now back from Madagascar. I spent two months working with the Omaha Zoo and the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership in country, and had a truly amazing time. I was fortunate enough to travel to four different field sites, Torotorofotsy, Kianjavato, Montage de Francais and Anjiamagirana. The first two are located in eastern lowland rainforests, and the third and fourth are sites in far north, and western Madagascar. I have added a map of the approximate locations. :)
While there I was helping to coordinate a variety of different projects, spanning everything from behavioral monitoring of lemur to community outreach and even reforestation projects. I learned a great deal about managing permanent sites in developing countries, a truly monumental task. I also managed to sneak off into the forests whenever possible, and have added 20 mammal species to my life list. Highlights include: Greater hedgehog tenrec (Setifer setosus) Black and white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) Greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus) Crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus) Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) Northern Sportive Lemur (Lepilemur septentrionalis) Tavaratra Mouse Lemur (Microcebus tavaratra) I also observed a large number of birds, reptiles and amphibians, but the identification is harder, especially for the herps. Feel free to check out the current projects on Facebook and at the MBP website! Pictures will be updated soon!
After a long hiatus from field work (nearly three years!) I will be returning in nine days! This time I'm off on a new adventure, to the island of Madagascar! I will be traveling around the island with my postdoc advisor Dr. Ed Louis to several of the permanent sites managed by the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership, the NGO the Henry Doorly Zoo's Center for Conservation Genetics operates. I'm excited for many things, experiencing an African country for the first time, meeting the locals, and of course searching for quintessential wildlife- the lemurs! I'm going to be assisting with some amazing projects, including lemur monitoring, aquaponics, reforestation, and education for the locals. We are also hoping to expand ecotourism in some of the permanent field sites. Lets be serious, doesn't everyone want to see lemurs in the wild? Wish me luck! For more information on Madagascar and the MBP, click the link below!
http://www.madagascarpartnership.org
I have officially been a postdoc for about a month, and it is quite exciting to be starting a variety of new projects. Additionally, I will be heading to Madagascar in the end of January to assist with the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership's programs (http://www.madagascarpartnership.org/home/index). Check out their website for a lot of information regarding the various projects going on in country. Also, if you like cute baby animal photos, check out the latest post about baby black and white ruffed lemurs (found here: http://www.madagascarpartnership.org/blog/entry/3929413/varecia-baby-season-blog-by-mbp-volunteer-colleen)!
I'm very excited to get to go to Madagascar and see some of these incredible animals myself! After a long time in the making my second dissertation chapter has been accepted for publication in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. This is an interesting example of convergent evolution which has confounded taxonomy until the inclusion of genetic data. From nuclear and mitochondrial markers we recovered the species, Dremomys everetti, is actually a species of Sundasciurus and not a long-nosed squirrel (genus Dremomys). Below is the graphical abstract for the paper. The Bornean Mountain Ground Squirrel (BMGS) was dated to have split from the true Dremomys over 11.5 million years ago.
I was asked to help with a project of a former postdoc at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, which was exciting for many reasons. First, it was my first foray into paleontology, not that I provided ANY assistance to Dr. Yuri Kimura on that front, but was interesting for me to get more familiar! Second, I did the divergence dating analysis, replacing the conventional dates with the new fossil evidence, and got to work with Dr. Molly McDonough again, which is always fun! Finally, this is a really interesting way to provide better fossil calibration points for other studies of Murine rodents, since the fossil record includes almost entirely teeth, and not complete skulls. Yuri identified qualitative characters across the tree of murine rodents that better places lineages, and corresponds to dated strata, so we can provide a small, but accurate interval for placing lineages. Thanks to all authors for a fast turn around on a really important subject matter for many fields of evolutionary biology!
As mentioned in my last post I defended my dissertation last week, and successfully passed! It was a great experience and I think it went very well! Thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout my PhD, and to my amazing committee members! Below is a photo of me with my two Smithsonian committee members, Dr. Kris Helgen and Dr. Jesus Maldonado.
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AuthorMissy is a geneticist, and field biologist who enjoys both observing mammals in their natural environment and combining that with DNA detective work. Archives
May 2023
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