Spatial and genomic structure of marine fish responses to environmental change
Huck Ecology Seminar Series

Abstract

A fundamental aim of biology is to understand the dynamic interactions between organisms and their environment that generate and maintain biodiversity over ecological and evolutionary timescales. The responses of organisms to environmental change are structured across heterogeneous environments and within the genome itself. This is because adaptation to local environments in the past influences contemporary plastic responses and future environmental adaptation, and because the genome itself is a heterogeneous landscape of selection, drift, recombination, and mutation. This talk will focus on the spatial and genomic structure of marine fish responses to environmental change through experiments that integrate genomics, physiology, and behaviour. Collectively, this work is aimed at creating genomic forecasts for responses to environmental change in species with structured populations and genomes. Forecasts provide tangible predictions for policy makers to develop effective biodiversity management strategies. Their development can also reveal fundamental truths about the predictability of ecology and evolution.

About the Speaker

Rebekah Oomen is an Associate Professor of Marine Biology at the University of New Brunswick Saint John and a Researcher at the University of Gothenburg, University of Agder, and University of Oslo. Rebekah leads the Transatlantic Fish Lab, a group of marine evolutionary ecologists that spans both sides of the Atlantic and studies fishes that do the same. Rebekah’s interdisciplinary research program uses an experimental approach integrating genomics, bioacoustics, and modelling to understand how natural populations respond to environmental change and mechanisms of adaptation across spatial and temporal scales. She earned her PhD in evolutionary ecology at Dalhousie University and held postdoctoral fellowships in complexity science at the University of Oslo and the University of Agder. Towards the goal of genomic forecasting of biodiversity change, Rebekah is involed in international efforts to generate high quality reference genomes for all eukaryotic species. She also leads a scientific and artistic project investigating the role of drumming songs in the cod mating ritual and collaborating with musicians, composers, and technologists to connect the public with science and nature.

Contact

  Jason Keagy
  keagy@psu.edu