The Oz Mammals Genomics initiative: developing genomic resources for mammal conservation at a continental scale
MacDonald, A., Byrne, M., Deakin, J. J., Eldridge, M., Fitzgerald, A., Johnson, R., Palmer, S., Young, A., Moritz, C. and Oz Mammals Genomics Consortium, T. (2018). The Oz Mammals Genomics initiative: developing genomic resources for mammal conservation at a continental scale. 5th European Congress of Conservation Biology. doi: 10.17011/conference/eccb2018/108107
Authors
Date
2018Copyright
© the Authors, 2018
The Australo-Papuan region has a unique mammal fauna, which faces unique threats and poses important evolutionary and ecological questions. Genomics has great potential to advance our understanding of the region's mammals and their conservation. The Oz Mammals Genomics Initiative brings together museum collections, researchers, data specialists and wildlife management agencies to comprehensively tackle rodent, bat and marsupial genomics at a continental scale.
There are few published whole genomes for Australian marsupials. We are developing well-assembled genomes from a broadly representative range of marsupial taxa, to facilitate new insights into evolution and to provide reference data for conservation studies. Genome projects are now underway for seven priority species: the fat-tailed dunnart, brush-tailed rock-wallaby, eastern bettong, mountain pygmy possum, Leadbeater's possum, bare-nosed wombat and eastern barred bandicoot.
Our current understanding of evolutionary relationships among many mammal taxa remains incomplete. To improve resolution of genus and species boundaries, we are generating comprehensive phylogenies of all extant and recently-extinct terrestrial mammals native to the Australo-Papuan region. We are using exon capture methods to sequence over 1000 genes from around 500 species of marsupial, rodent and bat, including samples from vouchered museum specimens wherever possible. This work will clarify taxonomic boundaries for several species of conservation concern, such as the Christmas Island flying-fox.
Finally, the availability of reference genomes and phylogenies will provide a solid base for population-level studies. We are developing conservation genomic datasets for a selection of threatened mammal species. Using exon capture and genotyping-by-sequencing methods, we will measure genetic diversity and inbreeding, determine population structures, and identify adaptive variation. The inclusion of museum specimens as well as recently-collected samples will enable comparisons of modern and historic levels of genetic diversity. Conservation projects have been prioritised so that genomic data are contributing directly to urgent management decisions, for example to inform translocations, reintroductions and captive breeding.
Publisher
Open Science Centre, University of JyväskyläConference
ECCB2018: 5th European Congress of Conservation Biology. 12th - 15th of June 2018, Jyväskylä, Finland
Original source
https://peerageofscience.org/conference/eccb2018/108107/Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- ECCB 2018 [712]
License
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
Editorial : Conservative dispositions in continental thought
Backman, Jussi; Magalhães, Pedro T. (Frontiers Media SA, 2022) -
Working with pastoral communities to conserve threatened wild mammals
Ahmad, Riyaz; Dar, Sameer; Kumari, Indu (Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä, 2018)In India, most of the conservation sites have local community and the policy makers as the major stake holders. However, they have been rarely involved in conservation. The alpine and subalpine meadows of Hirpora Wildlife ... -
Competition between marine mammals and fisheries in contemporary harvested marine ecosystems
Jusufovski, Dunja; Saavedra, Camilo; Kuparinen, Anna (Inter-Research Science Publisher, 2019)Competitive interactions between marine mammals and fisheries represent some of the most complex challenges in marine resource management worldwide. The development of commercial fisheries and recovering marine mammal ... -
Understanding rural development and ecosystem conservation from a socioecological landscape approach: combining resilience research, soundscape monitoring and livelihoods assessment in Colo
Bermudez-Urdaneta, Martin; Parra-Guevara, Camila (Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä, 2018)For conservation biology is essential to assess ecosystems sustainability encompassing nature-society dynamics, ecological effectiveness, social equity and economic opportunities. Assessments are needed across a wide array ... -
Enhancing salmon conservation releases through improved brain development and behaviour
Hirvonen, Heikki; Koskinen, Jussi (Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä, 2018)Captive breeding programmes are based on the practice of taking part of an endangered population to captive environment and releasing the captive-born offspring back to the wild. Despite the vast ecological and economical ...