2018/04/06

SevinOmics Spring Meeting 2018 - April 9th

2018/02/02

Carles advise on the conservation status of the Iberian wolf

Last week, Carles was requested by the government of Álava (North Spain) to give advise on the conservation status of the Iberian wolf in that region.

You can watch the video of his intervention (In Spanish).

He was latter interviewed by a local radio and a newspaper (In Spanish): Radio Vitoria, Noticias de Álava.

2017/06/05

Video of Eline Lorenzen's seminar

Here you can watch the seminar that Eline gave at EBD. Worth watching, she is an extraordinary scientist and communicator.

2017/05/31

Eline Lorenzen seminar TODAY (EBD at 1pm)

2017/03/20

2017 SevinOmics Spring Meeting - CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

2017/03/17

Workshop on Genomics of Adaptation, by AdaptNet

Carles, Carlos, Santi and Ines assisted last week to a Workshop on Genomics of Adaptation organized in Valencia by AdaptNet, a Spanish network of labs working on genomics of adaptation.

We learned from expertised researchers on several topics related with the handling and processing of genomic data, but the best part was to meet new and old folks that work on the same topics and spend some time together.
New interactions and, hopefully, future collaborations were born there.

2017/03/13

Species identification in a historical heritage restoration

Jennifer and Anna have collaborated with the Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico (IAPH) (the Andalusian Historical Heritage Institute). This institute has restored the cape of the virgin of a famous sevillian brotherhood, the Hermandad de Los Negritos. Jennnifer and Anna have genetically analyzed the material the angels of the cape are made of. It turned to be ivory from a male elephant from central Africa.

Local media has covered the presentation of the restored cape (in Spanish):

EsAndalucía: El IAPH restaura el manto de la Virgen de los Ángeles de la Hermandad de los Negritos de Sevilla
El Correo de Andalucía: Brillos renovados para un manto singular
La Vanguardia Andalucía: El IAPH restaura el manto de la Virgen de los Ángeles de los Negritos
ABC de Sevilla: Así ha quedado el manto de los Negritos tras la restauración en el IAPH
El Llamador (audio, from minute 16)

2017/03/08

PhD fellowship available to work in our group on "Adaptation and gene flow in Neotropical amphibians"

A new call for a PhD fellowship in our group will be opened soon.

It will be funded by the Spanish Government to work in the project "Adaptation and gene flow in Neotropical amphibians", leaded by Carles Vilà.

Adaptation and gene flow are normally seen as opposing forces. While adaptation to different habitats (together with random genetic drift and novel mutations) tends to accumulate nucleotide differences in diverging lineages, gene flow tends to homogenize them and reduce differentiation. Thus, gene flow has commonly been seen as a mechanism reducing the chances of speciation. However, during recent years the scientific community has become more aware of divergence with gene flow. In fact, some studies have shown that introgression of genes from diverging populations could even increase the evolutionary potential and phenotypic diversity. This proposal aims at investigating the interplay between gene flow and adaptation in several multi-species systems of Neotropical frogs.

Within this project we will study the adaptive radiation of the direct developing Eleutherodactylus frogs in the Caribbean. Species from this genus have extensively diversified in this island system, occupying very different ecological niches. For example, some species live within arboreal bromeliads while others live in caves or tightly associated to streams. Frogs using the same niche have independently evolved on different islands, but show clear signs of morphological convergence. We are looking for a PhD student that will use transcriptome capture of about 40 species to investigate the genetic basis of this convergence by assessing how many genes and what genes are involved in the adaptation to a given microhabitat. Also, the student will study within-species demographic changes and gene flow between sympatric closely related species during their divergence, and between more distantly related taxa exploiting the same microhabitat. Could gene flow have facilitated convergence within islands?

Candidates for this PhD project are expected to have a strong interest in evolutionary biology and bioinformatics. The data will be obtained from genomic analyses of specimens available at scientific collections and museums. The project will be developed working in close collaboration with international collaborators.

Evaluation of applicants will be initially carried out by government agencies. We will announce the opening of the call and tell you how to apply. Keep an eye!

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2017/02/15

Video of Santi's "PhD plan" seminar

Watch Santi in action, presenting his plans for his PhD in the talk "A genomic view on the diversification of neotropical frogs"

2017/02/10

Feb 11th - The International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Tomorrow will be the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. There is still a lot of work to do to reach the same representation and recognition as men in so many fields. Science is still one of them.

Women in the Estación Biológica de Doñana want to show it up and celebrate this day by taking a picture of all of us.

We will #changethenumbers!

2017/02/09

Carlos' popular science talk

Scientific dissemination should be one of the duties of our job. And what a better place to disseminate science to a non-scientific audience than in a bar? Carlos thought this combination could be great, and so last Wednesday he gave a popular science talk about human evolution and Paleogenetics in Bulebar (Seville).

People enjoyed it! It was really fun and interesting. You can watch his talk (in Spanish) and the later chat with the audience that cheerfully raised up after the talk.

Great initiative, Carlos and #CienciaBulebar.

2017/02/07

Santi's "PhD plan" seminar!

Santi will present the project he plans to develop during his PhD. It will be next Thursday (February 9th) at 1pm in Cabimer.

Everybody is welcome!

A genomic view on the diversification of neotropical frogs

The genus Oreobates is a clade of Neotropical frogs of which very little is known. More than half of the 24-named species have been described in the last ten years. They are distributed across a wide range of habitats and altitudes in South America. Unfortunately, some Oreobates species have been only found once. This is particularly a problem for traditional phylogeography and phylogenetics studies based on data from a few orthologous loci from multiple individuals. With the increasing usage of high throughput sequencing we are now able to sequence big amounts of orthologous loci, allowing the use of less individuals. In organisms with big genome sizes, such as amphibians, a common way to obtain a reduced representation of the genome is by transcriptome sequencing. Using a transcriptome-based exon capture approach, in my PhD thesis I will use thousands of orthologous genes to study evolution rates, demographic history and adaptation patterns on the frogs of the genus Oreobates. The results of this project will allow us to solve questions such as: “Is the evolution rate lower in the highland Oreobates species?”, “Is the genetic diversity larger in montane Oreobates species?” or “Are there any genes related to adaptation to dry forest in Oreobates?”

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2017/02/06

Wolf management

2017/01/20

Discovering new species

A new Cuban endemic species of Eleutherodactylus has been described by Álvaro, Santi, Carles and colleagues: Eleutherodactylus cattus.
They have used a combination of genetics, morphometrics and bioacoustics evidences to assess the species limits.

Cryptic within cryptic: genetics, morphometrics, and bioacoustics delimitate a new species of Eleutherodactylus (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae) from Eastern Cuba
Rodríguez A, Dugo-Cota A, Montero-Mendieta S, Alonso R, Vences M, Vilà C (2017)
Zootaxa 4221 (5), 501–522

Eleutherodactylus cattus

2017/01/13

Seminar by Santiago Castroviejo-Fisher

Let's start the year with an interesting seminar! Santiago Castroviejo-Fisher, from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil), will give a seminar today about the origin of biodiversity in neotropical amphibians: "Ciclos en el estudio de la biodiversidad: El samsara del herpetólogo" (in Spanish).

Today, January 13th, at 1 pm, in the Sala de Juntas de la Estación Biológica de Doñana.

Everybody is welcome!

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2016/12/21

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We went yesterday to have our Christmas lunch and to enjoy some time together before each of us leave to our respective homes.

We want to desire all of you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you next year!

2016/12/19

Mar Comas' PhD plan seminar!

WatchMar presenting the studies she plans to perform during her PhD in her talk "Ecology of a small mammal community along an altitudinal gradient".

2016/12/13

PhD seminars next Thursday

Santi and Mar will present the projects they plan to develop during their PhDs next Thursday (December 15th) at 1pm in Cabimer.

Everybody is welcome!

Santiago Montero-Mendieta's seminar: A genomic view on the diversification of neotropical frogs

The genus Oreobates is a clade of Neotropical frogs of which very little is known. More than half of the 24-named species have been described in the last ten years. They are distributed across a wide range of habitats and altitudes in South America. Unfortunately, some Oreobates species have been only found once. This is particularly a problem for traditional phylogeography and phylogenetics studies based on data from a few orthologous loci from multiple individuals. With the increasing usage of high throughput sequencing we are now able to sequence big amounts of orthologous loci, allowing the use of less individuals. In organisms with big genome sizes, such as amphibians, a common way to obtain a reduced representation of the genome is by transcriptome sequencing. Using a transcriptome-based exon capture approach, in my PhD thesis I will use thousands of orthologous genes to study evolution rates, demographic history and adaptation patterns on the frogs of the genus Oreobates. The results of this project will allow us to solve questions such as: “Is the evolution rate lower in the highland Oreobates species?”, “Is the genetic diversity larger in montane Oreobates species?” or “Are there any genes related to adaptation to dry forest in Oreobates?”


Mar Comas' seminar: Ecology of a small mammal community along an altitudinal gradient

Altitudinal gradients imply a variation in several environmental variables (as temperature and moisture) generating a spatial variation in the selective pressures and allowing for the study of different ecological and evolutionary processes. In this PhD thesis, I will study the ecology and evolution of treeshrews (Tupaia montana) along an altitudinal gradient in Kinabalu park (Sabah, Malaysia), from different approaches. I will study the trophic ecology of the tree shrews (genus Tupaia) by means stable isotopes, their parasites and their immune system (Class I and II genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex). We will also study the relationship between parasites and immune system.?

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2016/09/29

Review about wolf population genetics in Europe

2016/09/12

New paper on North American Wolf colonization, illustrating the journal cover and commented by the BBC

2016/08/17

BBC coverage

The BBC has covered one of the latest and most interesting papers of Carles and colleagues, which points out that a big powerful brain has obvious advantages but it also carries hidden costs, and for many species a big brain now puts them at greater risk of extinction.

Does large brain size decrease vulnerability to extinction in mammals?
Gonzalez-Voyer A, González-Suárez M, Vilà C, Revilla E (2016) Evolution 70(6), 1364-1375
Supporting information

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2016/08/04

Quick Guide to Build De-novo Assemblies

2016/07/29

We have joined AdaptNet

We have recently joined AdaptNet, a network of research laboratories working on adaptation genomics from different perspectives, including molecular systematics, evolutionary and functional genomics, and theoretical analyses, in a variety of organisms, from model and non-model organisms to wild and domestic species.

Through collaboration among the members, we pretend to boost our understanding on the genomic mechanisms underlying the generation and maintenance of biodiversity.

2016/07/20

Expedition in Borneo

Miguel and Arlo are on expedition in Borneo, through the deepest forests and highest mountains, looking for precious tiny mammals for the project Evolution of Biodiversity on the Sunda Shelf .

You can follow their adventure in the blog Small Mammals of Borneo or in theexpedition Facebook page.



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2016/06/23

Does large brain size decrease vulnerability to extinction in mammals?

This is the interesting question Carles Vilà and collaborators try to answer in a brand new paper. According to them, "larger brains have become a burden for mammals".

Check it out here: Supporting information

Gonzalez-Voyer A, González-Suárez M, Vilà C, Revilla E (2016) Does large brain size decrease vulnerability to extinction in mammals? Evolution 70(6), 1364–1375.

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2016/05/27

New people!

The group has grown and we had not told you yet! Arlo, Mar and Carlos are three new students working in engaging PhD projects and Giovanni and Vicente are sharp researchers working as postdocs. We are very happy to have them with us. Check their profiles and interests!

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2016/05/10

Fred Allendorfvisits us today!

We are very pleased to host him today at EBD! He will give a talk at 1pm at EBD entitled "Using genetic variation to conserve natural populations: Allozymes to genomes".

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2016/03/03

First publication of Santi!

Vasconcelos R*, Montero-Mendieta S*, Simó-Riudalbas M, Sindaco R, Santos X, Fasola M, Llorente G, Razzetti E, Carranza S (2016) Unexpectedly high levels of cryptic diversity uncovered by a complete DNA barcoding of reptiles of the Socotra Archipelago. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0149985. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0149985 (*Equal contribution) Link

Congratulations, Santi! It will be the first of a long list of interesting papers.

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2016/02/08

New publications

de Groot GA, Nowak C, Skrbinšek T, Andersen LW, Aspi J, Fumagalli L, Godinho R, Harms V, Jansman HAH, Liberg O, Marucco F, Myslajek RW, Nowak S, Pilot M, Randi E, Reinhardt I, Smietana W, Szewczyk M, Taberlet P, Vilà C, Muñoz-Fuentes V (2016) Decades of population genetic research reveal the need for harmonization of molecular markers: the grey wolf Canis lupus as a case study. Mammal Review 46: 44-59. DOI: 10.1111/mam.12052

Hawkins MTR, Helgen KM, Maldonado JE, Rockwood LL, Tsuchiya MTN, Leonard JA (2016) Phylogeny, biogeography and systematic revision of plain long-nosed squirrels (genus Dremomys, Nannosciurinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 94: 752-764. DOI:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.023

Koepfli K-P, Pollinge J, Godinho R, Robinson J, Lea A, Hendricks S, Schweizer RM, Thalmann O, Silva P, Fan Z, Yurchenko AA, Dobrynin P, Makunin A, Cahill JA, Shapiro B, Álvares F, Brito JC, Geffen E, Leonard JA, Helgen KM, Johnson WE, O’Brien SJ, Van Valkenburgh B, Wayne RK (2015) Genome-wide evidence reveals that African and Eurasian golden jackals are distinct species. Current Biology 25: 2158-2165. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.06.060

Griesser M, Halvarsson P, Drobniak SM, Vilà C (2015) Fine-scale kin recognition in the absence of social familiarity in the Siberian jay, a monogamous bird species. Molecular Ecology 24: 5726-5738. DOI: 10.1111/mec.13420

Leonard JA (2014) Ecology drives evolution in grey wolves. Evolutionary Ecology Research 16: 461-473. Link

Leonard JA (2014) Adapting to global change. Evolutionary Ecology Research 16: 441-444. Link

2016/01/20

Seminar Love Dalén

Let's start the year with a good seminar! Professor Love Dalén, from the Department of Zoology of the Stockholm University, will give a seminar next Tuesday 26 at 1 pm in Cabimer (Seville) entitled "Using paleogenomes to explore the evolutionary history of Pleistocene megafauna", wich looks really interesting. You are very welcome to assist!

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2015/09/08

We are back!

We are back from holidays and ready to work hard again!

During this summer many things have happened and we have very good news to share with you!

- We are very happy to receive Vicente García-Navas in the CONSEVOL group. Vicente is joining the group as a postdoctoral researcher and he will work on wolf population genetics in collaboration with Carles Vila, and phenotypic divergence in Iberian grasshoppers in cooperation with Joaquin Ortego.

- We also welcome back to Álvaro Dugo-Cota and Miguel Camacho-Sánchez from their stays in Mexico and United States, respectively. Álvaro has enjoyed a four-month stay in Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and he have been working in collaboration with Alejandro Gonzalez-Voyer. Meanwhile, Miguel has spent two months in the National Museum of Natural History located in Washington DC.

- Finally, Irene Quintanilla is our new laboratory technician and she will work in collaboration with Jennifer Leonard applying genetic tools to study the demography of small mammals.

Welcome to all! :-)

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2015/06/18

Two new PhD fellowships available!

There are two more PhD fellowships available now in our lab!

The first PhD position is part of the project: "Diversidad, divergencia y adaptación en micromamíferos de alta montaña", funded by the Spanish Government (CGL2014-58793-P).

Sundaland is the tropical region in the southeast of Asia including the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and Java. This region is a recognized hotspot of biodiversity, and it was this biodiversity that inspired Alfred Russel Wallace to independently arrive at the theory of speciation by natural selection. We propose to characterize the effects of natural selection in a variety of small mammals in this region using both tools available to Wallace, such as morphology and distribution, along with cutting edge genomics.

In this project we are studying the biogeography and evolution of the forest associated fauna of southeast Asia using forest dependent vertebrates, primarily small mammals. The project relies on several different kinds of data including bioinformatic, GIS, genetic (including population genetic, phylogeography, genomics and ancient DNA), morphology and field work. The project is collaborative and includes PhD students and researchers in Spain and the US.

The PhD student is expected to include some genomics in their study, as well as at least one other type of data. The project involves fieldwork on the Sunda Shelf (most likely Malaysia or Indonesia). The student is expected to lead their portion of the research. The student is expected, with the support of the collaboration and the group, to produce science at an international standard to be published in international scientific journals. The student is expected to actively participate as a member of the group. The student will have the opportunity to engage in short international stays (3 months), and that is strongly encouraged.

Evaluation of applicants will be initially carried out by government agencies. All applications should be submitted via (instructions in Spanish) this webpage. Candidates must also send documentation to Jennifer Leonard before June 29nd (JLeonard@ebd.csic.es). For further information contact Jennifer Leonard.

The second PhD position is part of the Severo Ochoa's Program and it is open to work in the line of "Molecular Ecology and Genetics" at the Estación Biológica de Doñana (the position is also funded by the Spanish Government, SEV-2012-0262-04).

For further information do not hesitate to contact Carles Vilà.

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2015/06/11

A new PhD position is available in our group!

We are seeking for highly motivated PhD candidates to apply for a FPI fellowship associated with the recently granted project “Patterns and processes of genomic divergence along the speciation continuum in two recent evolutionary radiations: a multidisciplinary and integrative approach” (DIVERGEN). The project will integrate genomic and phenotypic data for taxonomic delimitation in two species complexes of montane orthoptera and analyze the evolutionary and demographic trajectories of the different taxa in relation with landscape heterogeneity and past environmental changes. These questions will be addressed combining genomic data obtained using high-throughput DNA sequencing techniques, morphometric geometrics and species distribution modelling, among other analytical approaches.

The PhD will be developed under the supervision of Joaquín Ortego and Anna Papadopoulou at Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC, Seville, Spain), a reference center for ecological and evolutionary research. For more information about this center and the project visit: EBD-CSIC, Joaquin Ortego's webpage and the project's site.

Though the official call will open in the next days, the deadline for submitting applications is expected to be around the end of June. The candidates should fulfill the requirements of the call (to hold a master degree and have been admitted in a PhD program from a Spanish university). A background in molecular techniques, bioinformatics, population genetics, phylogenetics and/or biogeography will be viewed positively.

Candidates should send their CV and a letter of motivation stating your interest in DIVERGEN to Joaquin Ortego (joaquin.ortego@csic.es)

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2015/06/11

New paper!

Dugo-Cota A, Castroviejo-Fisher S, Vilà C, Gonzalez-Voyer A (2015) A test of the integrated evolutionary speed hypothesis in a Neotropical amphibian radiation. Global Ecology and Biogeography 24: 804–813.

2015/06/08

New paper!

Sanchez-Donoso I, Morales-Rodriguez PA, Puigcerver M, Caballero de la Calle JR, Vilà C, Rodríguez-Teijeiro JD. Postcopulatory sexual selection favors fertilization success of restocking hybrid quails over native Common quails (Coturnix coturnix). Journal of Ornithology, 157: 33-42. doi: 10.1007/s10336-015-1242-1.

2015/04/24

New member in the group!

We are very happy to receive Santiago Montero-Mendietain the CONSEVOL group.

Santi is joining the group as a PhD student under the supervision of Carles Vilà. His work will be linked to the project "A stroll with amphibians along the path of speciation: from micro to macro evolutionary processes”.

Welcome, Santi!

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2015/03/23

New paper!

Ortego J, Gugger PF, Sork VL (2015) Climatically stable landscapes predict patterns of genetic structure and admixture in the Californian canyon live oak. Journal of Biogeography 42: 328-338.

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2015/03/19

Divulgative article in Excelenciencia about Jennifer Leonard's work on the wolves of Beringia and the domestication of dogs. (in Spanish)

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2015/02/10

Carles Vilà will give a seminar next friday February 13th at 12:00 in the National Museum of Natural History (Madrid, Spain)

The seminar is titled "Intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting the rate of evolution: stories of dogs and frogs"

Abstract: The origin of biodiversity has always fascinated naturalists. Since Darwin, we tend to see natural selection as responsible for this diversity. However, selection needs molecular diversity upon which to act. What is the origin ofthis molecular diversity? Using dogs as a model system we investigated some of the mechanisms that have been suggestedto produce different rates of morphological change indogs and wolves. These differences may have arisen, in part, as a result of the demographic changes and relaxation of selective forces suffered by the domestic species. We can expect these processes to equally affectnatural systems. By analyzing the diversity of a family of Neotropical frogs we investigated environmental factors that may be associated with changes in the rate of molecular evolution. We alsostudied whether these extrinsic factors may be associated with the rate of diversification in this family. These two model systems offer unique perspectives to better understand some of the mechanisms contributing raw genetic diversity for selection to act upon.

You can follow it online.

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2015/01/27

New paper!

Brandariz-Fontes C*, Camacho-Sanchez M*, Vilà C, Vega-Pla JL, Rico C, Leonard JA (2015) Effect of the enzyme and PCR conditions on the quality of high-throughput DNA sequencing results. Scientific Reports 5: Article 8056. (*Equal contribution) Link

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2015/01/21

Two new papers!

This paper has been selected for the cover of the journal  

Muñoz-Fuentes V, Marcet-Ortega M, Alkorta-Aranburu G, Linde Forsberg C, Morrell JM, Manzano-Piedras E, Söderberg A, Daniel K, Villalba A, Toth A, Di Rienzo A, Rogi I, Vilà C (2015) Strong artificial selection in domestic mammals did not result in an increased recombination rate. Molecular Biology and Evolution 32(2): 510-523. Supporting information

And this one has been recently published on-line:

Shafer ABA, Wolf JBW, Alves PC, Bergström L, Bruford MW, Brännström I, Colling G, Dalén L, De Meester L, Ekblom R, Fawcett KD, Fior S, Hajibabaei M, Hill JA, Hoezel AR, Hoglund J, Jensen EL, Krause J, Kristensen TN, Krützen M, McKay JK, Norman AJ, Ogden R, Österling EM, Ouborg NJ, Piccolo J, Popovic D, Primmer CR, Reed FA, Roumet M, Salmona J, Schenekar T, Schwartz MK, Segelbacher G, Senn H, Thaulow J, Valtonen M, Veale A, Vergeer P, Vijay N, Vilà C, Weissensteiner M, Wennerström L, Wheat CW, Zielinski P (2014) Genomics and the challenging translation into conservation practice. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2014.11.009. Appendix S1

2015/01/19

New paper!

Leonard JA, den Tex R-J, Hawkins MTR, Muñoz-Fuentes V, Thorington R, Maldonado JE (2015) Phylogeography of vertebrates on the Sunda Shelf: a multi-species comparison. Journal of Biogeography, doi:10.1111/jbi.12465.

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2014/12/09

Álvaro Dugo-Cota will give a talk tomorrow in the University of Seville

The talk (in Spanish) will be about part of the work done during his PhD project, as part of the seminars of the PhD program on Integrative Biology of the University of Seville.

The tittle of the talk is: "Patrones de diversificación y divergencia fenotípica en anfibios neotropicales"

You are very welcome to assist.

When and where: Tomorrow, December 10th, at 10:00, in the Salón de Grados, Edificio Rojo Facultad de Biología, Avenida de la Reina Mercedes s/n, 41012, Seville, Spain.

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2014/12/03

Participation in "Jornadas LEM 2014"

Miguel Camacho, José Manuel Lucas and Joaquín Ortego will present part of their work in "Jornadas LEM" tomorrow.

"Jornadas LEM" is a meeting celebrated every year in the EBD, where PhD students, post-docs and researchers present the work they have been or are doing in the Molecular Ecology Lab (LEM) of the EBD.

The meeting will be TOMORROW (14/12/04) in the Sala de Juntas of the EBD from 9:30 to 12:45. You are very welcome to assist and hear about some of the exciting projects going on in LEM!

Jornadas LEM 2014 program
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2014/11/21

New publication!

Muñoz-Fuentes V, Marcet-Ortega M, Alkorta-Aranburu G, Linde Forsberg C, Morrell JM, Manzano-Piedras E, Söderberg A, Daniel K, Villalba A, Toth A, Di Rienzo A, Roig I, Vilà C (2014) Strong artificial selection in domestic mammals did not result in an increased recombination rate. Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi: 10.1093/molbev/msu322. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2014/11/14

There is a new Ph.D in the city!

We are happy to tell that Ines Sanchez-Donoso defended her PhD Thesis last October 29th in the University of Barcelona, so we have a new Ph.D in the group!

Her PhD Thesis is called "Impact of game restocking on common quail populations" and you can find it here. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2014/11/10

Alejandro Gonzalez-Voyer was awarded an Assistant Professor position in the UNAM!

We are very happy to announce that Alejandro was awarded an Assistant Professor position in the Animal Behaviour Department of the Ecology Institute from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

Congratulations, Alejandro! We wish you all the best!

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2014/10/10

More papers! Joaquín Ortego publishes 3 new papers! and Carles Vilà 3 more!

Ortego J, Gugger PF, Sork VL (2014) Climatically stable landscapes predict patterns of genetic structure and admixture in the Californian canyon live oak. Journal of Biogeography. doi:10.1111/jbi.12419.

Ortego J, Bonal R, Muñoz A, Aparicio JM (2014) Extensive pollen immigration and no evidence of disrupted mating patterns or reproduction in a highly fragmented holm oak stand. Journal of Plant Ecology 7, 384-395.

Aguirre MP, Cordero PJ, Ortego J (2014) Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellites in the specialist grasshopper Ramburiella hispanica (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Conservation Genetics Resources 6, 723-724.

Hoban S, Arntzen JA, Bruford MW, Godoy JA, Hoelzel AR, Segelbacher G, Vilà C, Bertorelle G (2014) Comparative evaluation of potential indicators and temporal sampling protocols for monitoring genetic erosion. Evolutionary Applications, doi: 10.1111/eva.12197. Link

Baranowska Körberg I, Sundström E, Meadows JRS, Rosengren Pielberg G, Gustafson U, Hedhammar A, Karlsson EK, Seddon J, Söderberg A, Vilà C, Zhang X, Akesson M, Lindblad-Toh K, Andersson G, Andersson L (2014) A simple repeat polymorphism in the MITF-M promoter is a key regulator of white spotting in dogs. PLoS ONE 9: e104363. Link

Ramirez O, Olalde I, Berglund J, Lorente-Galdos B, Hernandez-Rodriguez J, Quilez J, Webster MT, Wayne RK, Lalueza-Fox C, Vilà C, Marques-Bonet T (2014) Analysis of structural diversity in wolf-like canids reveals post-domestication variants. BMC Genomics 15: 465. Link

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2014/10/01

New publication!

Muñoz-Fuentes V, Linde Forsberg C, Vilà C, Morrell, J (2014) Single layer centrifugation separates spermatozoa from diploid cells in epididymal samples from grey wolves, Canis lupus (L.). Theriogenology, 82: 773–776.

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2014/09/16

More PhD positions!

The call for PhD grants by the Spanish Government under the Severo Ochoa program is still open until next friday 19th!!
Candidates are very welcome to get in contact with us for a PhD thesis in any of our ongoing projects.

Have a look to our research topics and do not hesitate to contact us: Jennifer Leonard (JLeonard@ebd.csic.es) or Carles Vilà (carles.vila@ebd.csic.es).

For more information about the call, visit the government webpage. Applications can be written in English.

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2014/09/15

A PhD position is available in our group on Amphibian Evolutionary Genomics!

The PhD position is part of the project: "A stroll with amphibians along the path of speciation: from micro to macro evolutionary processes", funded by the Spanish Government ("Procesos micro y macro evolutivos en la diversificación de anfibios", CGL2013-47547-P).

Recent years have seen an increase in the knowledge of the amphibian diversity in the Neotropics. Many new species are being described every year at the same time that many others become part of the lists of endangered species. However, little is known about the patterns and processes that explain this diversity. In this proposal we join the efforts of research groups in four countries (Spain, Sweden, Mexico, USA and Brazil) to study the origin of the diversity of amphibians at very different spatial and temporal scales and using diverse analytical approaches.

We will assemble one transcriptome and use genomic approaches to study the demographic and evolutionary history of a genus of Neotropical frogs in the absence of a genome sequence of a closely related species that could be used as a reference. This genus includes species adapted to highland and lowland environments. We will investigate the phylogentic relationships between species, we will track demographic changes through time and their correspondence with habitat changes, and we will identify portions of the genome that are differentiated between populations with different degrees of isolation and that could indicate incipient speciation.

Methods:
- Transcriptome assembly, mapping sequences obtained with Next Generation Sequencing approaches, demographic inference.
- Analysis of population structure using genotyping-by-sequencing approaches.

Candidates:
- The candidate should have a masters degree or equivalent degree in Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Biotechnology or Bioinformatics
- Previous experience working with next-generation-sequencing data and bioinformatic analyses is highly desirable
- Analytically inclined, familiarity with work in a Linux/Unix environment is highly desirable. The project will require programming in Perl or Python and the analysis of large genomic databases
- Proficient in both written and spoken English
- Willing to work abroad (we expect that part of the work will be carried out in close collaboration with our Swedish colleagues)
- Dynamic, eager to learn and willing to participate in all the activities run by the research group (weekly meetings, seminars, discussions …)

The project does not include field work. Samples are already available in scientific collections.

Evaluation of applicants will be initially carried out by government agencies. All applications should be submitted via (instructions in Spanish) this webpage. Candidates must also send documentation to Carles Vilà before September 22nd (carles.vila@ebd.csic.es).

For further information do not hesitate to contact Prof. Carles Vilà.

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2014/09/03

New publication!

Albert EM, Fernández-Beaskoetxea S, Godoy JA, Tobler U, Schmidt BR, Bosch J (2014) Genetic management of an amphibian population after a chytridiomycosis outbreak. Conservation Genetics.

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2014/08/21

Alejandro Gonzalez-Voyeris coauthor of two great chapters from the book "Modern Phylogenetic Comparative Methods & Their Application in Evolutionary Biology". Have an interesting read!

	Chapter 2: Working with the Tree of Life in Comparative Studies: How to Build and Tailor Phylogenies to Interspecific Datasets.
	Chapter 8: An Introduction to Phylogenetic Path Analysis.

And do not forget the conference “Modern Phylogenetic Comparative Methods and their Application in Evolutionary Biology”, which will take place in Seville (Spain) from the 11th-15th November 2014.
Reduced registration fee until August 31st!!

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2014/06/17

Joaquín Ortegohas received the prestigious "Ramon y Cajal" Spanish grant/position. Congratulations Joaquín!
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2014/06/11

New publication!

García-Navas V, Ferrer ES, Sanz JJ, Ortego J (2014) The role of immigration and local adaptation on fine-scale genotypic and phenotypic population divergence in a less mobile passerine. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. doi: 10.1111/jeb.12412

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2014/06/03

New publication!

Ortego J, Gugger PF, Riordan EC, Sork VL (2014) Influence of climatic niche suitability and geographical overlap on hybridization patterns among southern Californian oaks. Journal of Biogeography. doi: 10.1111/jbi.12334

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2014/05/26

Congratulations Eva Albert!

The paper Albert et al. (2013) Assessing the robustness of the networks of spatial genetic variation, Ecology Letters, has been awarded by the EBD has "Best Paper in 2013"

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2014/05/15

Upcoming conference: Modern Phylogenetic Comparative Methods and their Application in Evolutionary Biology

We are pleased to announce the upcoming conference entitled “Modern Phylogenetic Comparative Methods and their Application in Evolutionary Biology”, which will take place in Seville (Spain) from the 11th-15th November 2014.

Phylogenetic comparative methods are now widely used in very diverse fields of evolutionary biology to make robust inferences from interspecific data and phylogenies. Currently, we witness a rapid flourishing of the phylogenetic toolbox allowing researchers to tackle diverse questions concerning the evolution of species and their traits. The conference aims at providing a bouquet of overviews on the most recent developments by the most prominent experts of the comparative methodology, and also at attracting a wide range of contributions from different fields of evolutionary biology to demonstrate how the phylogenetic comparative approach can be used to address an ample array of biological questions in different taxa.

We welcome proposals for talks and posters on any aspect of the application of the phylogenetic comparative methodology that is relevant for making evolutionary inferences. The deadline for applications is the 1st of September.

We look forward to seeing you in Seville!

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2014/05/14

Visitors! Ariel Rodriguez and José Manuel Lucas Canovas

We are very pleased to receive Ariel Rodriguezfrom the Technical University of Braunschweig. He presented yesterday in the EBD an interesting seminar called "Advertisement call evolution in Cuban frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus". He is collaborating with Ávaro Dugo-Cota, Alejandro Gonzalez-Voyer and Carles Vilà.

We are also very pleased to receive José Manuel Lucas Canovas, from the Phylogeny and Animal Evolution Group with José Galián at the University of Murcia. He will stay for a month to study Iberian squirrel genetics with Jennifer A Leonard.

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2014/05/12

New publication!

den Tex R-J & Leonard JA (2014) The phylogeography of red and yellow coppersmith barbets (Aves: Megalaima haemacephala). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2: 00016.
doi: 10.3389/fevo.2014.00016 Link

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2014/05/09

Joaquín Ortegohas been awarded with a “Severo Ochoa Microproyectos” grant

The grant is to fund the project entitled “Genetic variation in the scrub oak Californian species complex”. This research project aims to integrate genetic information and species distribution modelling to study the factors structuring intra- and inter-specific genetic variation in an oak species complex distributed from northern California to Baja California.

This grant is an internal EBD proposal call "Microproyectos" financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the Severo Ochoa Program for Centres of Excellence in R+D+I (SEV-2012-0262).

Good job, Joaquín!

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2014/04/30

New publication!

Sanchez-Donoso I, Huisman J, Echegaray J, Puigcerver M, Rodríguez-Teijeiro JD, Hailer F, Vilà C (2014) Detecting slow introgression of invasive alleles in an extensively restocked game bird. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 2: 00015.
doi: 10.3389/fevo.2014.00015 Link
Scripts for genotype simulation. Genotype data set available from the Dryad Digital Repository.

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2014/04/22

A new call of travel grants has been launched by ConGenOmics(a European Science Foundation network: Conservation Genomics): short visits and exchange grants for up to 3 months to visit other (aminly European) institutions. Link

News coverage

Parental care and sexual selection in Tanganyikan cichlid fishes Roadside Science. January 17, 2014


European origin of domestic dogs PDF: Highlighted in Science, Richard Dawkins Foundation (Facebook), El Mundo (Spanish newspaper)


Megafaunal Extintions November 4, 2011


Dogs, not wolves, eating sheep
October 3, 2010 September 3, 2010 August 30, 2010 August 27, 2010 August 27, 2010 August 26, 2010 August 26, 2010 August 26, 2010 August 26, 2010 July 16, 2010 January 26, 2010 January 19, 2010 January 19, 2010 November 19, 2009 November 15, 2009 September 14, 2009


Meeting Aula de Ecología del Lobo Ibérico - 5ª Edición
Meeting program (In Basque and Spanish) April 11, 2010 April 10, 2010


Black Gene in Wolves March 27, 2009


Multiple and Ancient Origins of the Domestic Dog