The NOAA-funded MOCHA (Monitoring Oregon’s Coastal Harmful Algae) team, that includes IE2 member Michelle Wood as a co-PI, has found that high levels of the neurotoxin domoic acid (DA) in shellfish on the U.S. west coast are linked to warm conditions of  major climate cycles like the El Niño Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation. In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a twenty year time series of data on DA in shellfish was used to support the conclusion and validate a risk assessment model that can be used to determine likelihood of blooms of DA producing phytoplankton.  Read more in this article from “Around the O”.

Jessica Green and Ashkaan Fahimipour organized a 3-day working group at the Santa Fe Institute on the topic of modeling microbiomes. Former IE2 postdocs James O’Dwyer and Steve Kembel  were among the participants.. Some press from the group: http://www.santafe.edu/news/item/happening-now-sfi-working-group-explores-predictive-models-microbiomes/

There is a crisis in research funding, and grassroots support may hold the answer for the most foundational branches of science.

Eugene, OR — Dr. Roo Vandegrift, a recent graduate of the doctoral program through the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Oregon, has launching a crowdfunding effort to attempt to address issues surrounding the systematic defunding of basic sciences in the United States. The campaign is available on Kickstarter from June 22 to July 22, and will fund a project to create and illustrate a guide book to the Xylaria fungi (known as “dead man’s fingers”) of the Cloud Forests of Ecuador as a test case for crowdfunding in the basic science of taxonomy.

Michelle Wood attended the  Oregon Legislative Task Force on Shellfish meeting on May 31st in Charleston, Oregon, and briefed task force members on harmful algal blooms that affect shellfish in Oregon.

GrEBES presents: De-Extinction

Hank Greely – “De-extinction: How, WHy, and Whether”

Seminar: 27 April at 7pm in 182 Lillis Hall

The Graduate Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Students (GrEBES) are pleased to present our annual Spring Public Seminar Series.  This year we explore the topic of de-extinction through the eyes of paleontologist Jack Horner, bioethicist Hank Greely, and evolutionary geneticist Hendrik Poinar. Join us next Wednesday (April 27th) at 7pm in Lillis 182 to listen to Hank Greely continue this year’s seminar series with a fun and exciting talk on the societal implications of de-extinction.

A limited number of De-Extinction tee-shirts are still for sale! They will be available at the reception and before and after the seminar ($15 cash only).

Look for flyers around campus and Eugene or Find us on online at https://grebesuo.wordpress.com/spring-seminar-series/

Graduate Rotation Talks 331 Klamath Hall

Tuesday, 7 June 2016

GrEBES presents: De-Extinction

Dr. Jack Horner – “How to Make Living Dinosaurs and Unicorns”
Seminar: 6 April at 7pm in 150 Columbia Hall


The Graduate Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Students (GrEBES) are pleased to present our annual 
Spring Public Seminar Series.

  
This year we explore the topic of de-extinction through the eyes of paleontologist Jack Horner, 
bioethicist Hank Greely, and evolutionary geneticist Hendrik Poinar. 

Join us Wednesday, April 6th, at 7pm in Columbia 150 to listen 
to Dr. Jack Horner kick off this year’s seminar series with a fun and 
exciting talk on reverse engineering dinosaurs. 

Find us on online at https://grebesuo.wordpress.com/spring-seminar-series/

This Spring Seminar Series is a free and public event hosted by GrEBES 
(Graduate Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Students), an ASUO-supported student organization.

Graduate Rotation Talks 331 Klamath Hall
Wednesday, 16 March 2016
1:30 PM Michelle Sconce/IMB Powell
1:45 Nicole Paterson/IMB Powell
2:00 Austin Harvey/IMB Herman
2:15 Anneliese Morrison/IMB Guenza
2:30 Anna Lakunina/ION Smear
2:45 Paul Reed/IEE Johnson

How fast can vertebrates adapt to new environments? In a recent publication in PNAS, the Cresko lab and collaborators from University of Alaska Anchorage presented evidence that, in just five decades, some freshwater populations of stickleback fish have diverged morphologically and genomically from their immediate marine relatives. And this divergence is nearly as great as has been measured in freshwater populations that were founded by marine fish more than 10,000 years ago. The study took advantage of natural freshwater populations of fish that could not have existed before the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake, which dramatically heaved up sea floor around marine islands and created new freshwater ponds. The researchers used RAD-seq genotyping of over 1000 fish to analyze genetic structure and conclude that rapid adaptation happened several times independently among the more than 20 populations studied. The findings have significance for understanding how fast even species with long generation times can adapt in a changing environment. Read more at this article on “Around the O”.

A double major in biology and environmental science, Amelia Fitch will spend a year earning a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Plant Sciences. Lately she’s been working in the lab of biology professor Scott Bridgham, director of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution, pursuing an honors research project on carbon cycling in marine and freshwater wetlands. She’s particularly interested in how land management is affecting microbial life in those important ecosystems. Read the complete “Around the O” article here.