A Purdue University study presents a novel approach for identifying vertebrate populations at risk of extinction by estimating the rate of genetic diversity loss, a measurement that could help researchers and conservationists ...
Ecology
Aug 31, 2015
0
51
Understanding global patterns of species genetic diversity is an integral part of monitoring and preserving life on Earth. To date, however, scientists have mapped macrogenetic patterns in vertebrates exclusively. Macrogenetics ...
Ecology
Aug 31, 2023
0
4
Thousands of years ago, people in South America began domesticating Solanum pimpinellifolium, a weedy plant with small, intensely flavored fruit. Over time, the plant evolved into S. lycopersicum—the modern cultivated tomato.
Ecology
Dec 1, 2020
1
805
New research suggests that American mastodons were avid travelers, migrating vast distances across North America in response to dramatic climate change during the ice ages of the Pleistocene. The study, conducted by an international ...
Archaeology
Sep 1, 2020
2
622
The emergence in the Neolithic of patrilineal social systems, in which children are affiliated with their father's lineage, may explain a spectacular decline in the genetic diversity of the Y chromosome observed worldwide ...
Archaeology
Apr 24, 2024
0
44
Biologists at the University of Pennsylvania studying the processes of evolution appear to have resolved a longstanding conundrum: How can organisms be robust against the effects of mutations yet simultaneously adaptable ...
Evolution
Jan 20, 2010
0
0
The human genome is littered with "selfish genetic elements," which do not seem to benefit their hosts, but instead seek only to propagate themselves.
Evolution
Jul 6, 2022
0
94
Cornell University researchers have found that white-tailed deer—the most abundant large mammal in North America—are harboring SARS-CoV-2 variants that were once widely circulated, but no longer found in humans.
Ecology
Jan 31, 2023
0
105
A new analysis of lice genetic diversity suggests that lice came to the Americas twice—once during the first wave of human migration across the Bering Strait, and again during European colonization. Marina Ascunce, currently ...
Evolution
Nov 8, 2023
0
66
Large carnivores are generally sensitive to ecosystem changes because their specialized diet and position at the top of the trophic pyramid is associated with small population sizes. This in turn leads to lower genetic diversity ...
Ecology
Feb 25, 2021
1
274
