Matthew Duda PhD Candidate, SMOL LAB Long-term trends in a vulnerable seabird species: explorations of population dynamics using paleolimnology Long-term data are critical to contextualize population declines and to establish the best management approaches. However, for the majority of species, monitoring data are sparse, and thus it is difficult to assess population baselines or rates of decline. My research aimed to address this lack of data using a variety of paleolimnological approaches, with a focus on seabird colonies on islands in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. In a preliminary study of four lakes from Baccalieu Island, Newfoundland – host to the world’s largest colony of Leach’s storm-petrels (Hydrobates leucorhous) – I reconstructed ~1,700 years of colony dynamics and found that the colony has been in decline since the 1980s, corroborating on-the-ground survey data. Interestingly, the colony also fluctuated greatly before human influences, suggesting that natural factors also play an important role in the seabirds’ dynamics. In a follow-up study, I examined whether habitat quality and availability were primary drivers of long-term colony dynamics using fossil pollen from the same sediment cores. We showed that storm-petrels have a strong effect on the environment, which is positively correlated with colony size. The seabird’s nutrient-rich guano increased vegetation cover, which improved the nesting area. In a similar paleolimnological study of storm-petrel dynamics on Grand Colombier Island (St. Pierre and Miquelon, France), ~270 km west of Baccalieu, we determined that the colony experienced similar millennial-scale fluctuations in size, but, interestingly, peaks in colony size were asynchronous between islands. These data suggest that storm-petrels move between islands over millennia in response to a regional variable. Using new sediment cores from Baccalieu Island that cover ~10,000 years of seabird dynamics, alongside long-term climate reconstructions, we found that Atlantic seabird colonies are positively correlated with warm periods (e.g., Holocene Thermal Maximum), and seabirds likely move between colonies in response to changes in prey accessibility, driven by climate. However, the relationship between colony size and climate has been greatly modified due to anthropogenic climate warming. Ultimately, this research illustrates the potential for paleolimnological techniques to provide otherwise unattainable long-term data that is central to a more holistic understanding of the factors influencing seabird dynamics.
Dr. Rebecca Kiler University of Cambridge Simpson’s Question: How does behaviour determine evolution? For more than 50 years, the scientific study of animal behaviour has been defined by Tinbergen’s Four Questions. Two of his questions consider the connection between evolution and animal behaviour. They ask: how is behaviour adaptive, and what is its evolutionary history?
Five years before Tinbergen asked his Four Questions, G. G. Simpson posed a question of his own. Simpson was a palaeontologist and one of the architects of the Modern Synthesis. Simpson had successfully introduced the concepts of the Modern Synthesis into palaeontology and set his sights on achieving the same for animal behaviour. His question gets straight to the heart of the matter: How does behaviour evolve and how does it then determine subsequent evolution? Yet Simpson’s question has been overshadowed by Tinbergen’s Four Questions, and largely forgotten. Far more work has considered how behaviour is adaptive than how behaviour contributes to evolution. In this talk, I will explain why the answers to Simpson’s Question matter now, and describe some experiments that explain exactly how behaviour can affect the course of evolution. Our research focuses on the burying beetle (or sexton beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides), an insect that is abundant in European woodlands and that has a remarkable natural history. It is named for its habit of burying the dead, and tending the graveyard. It locates a small corpse to breed upon, such as a mouse or a songbird, shaves off the fur or feathers, rolls the flesh into a ball and then inters it in a shallow grave where it becomes an edible nest for its larvae. The parent beetles then tend to their young, by feeding them and defending them from attack. The natural history of these animals lends itself to experimental evolution, and lets us test directly how behaviour determines evolution. Collin Juurakko PhD Candidate, WALKER LAB Cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in the model cereal Brachypodium distachyon Low temperatures pose extreme challenges to crops causing significant economical impacts. Frost events, which are increasing in frequency due to climate change, can cause upwards of $7 billion in damages and are particularly devastating for communities reliant on a bountiful harvest, especially for cereal grains that contribute to most human calories. Some pathogens participate in these losses by promoting freezing at high sub-zero temperatures by way of ice-nucleating proteins to access intracellular nutrients. To survive freezing, dehydration and pathogen attacks, the model cereal, Brachypodium, only needs two days at 4 °C to cold acclimate. My thesis project shows that during this short period, there are many changes to the plasma membrane proteome, stress crosstalk modeling, leaf microbiome community, and include the synthesis of dual-function antifreeze proteins that are necessary for freeze survival, controlling ice nucleating proteins, and for the antipathogen response. This research thus anticipates a range of future biotechnological solutions from cryopreservation to frozen product additives, as well as the engineering of transgenic crops with enhanced freezing tolerance.
Dr. Anne Salomon Simon Fraser University Looking backwards to guide the future of resilient and just coastal oceans and communities Operating within the biophysical limits of our biosphere while ensuring its equitable use is the central challenge of our time. This is acutely true among the world’s coastal oceans where seafood, and the social-ecological systems in which they are embedded, provide the nutrition, livelihoods, and well-being for over 3 billion people today. Yet, for millennia, people have been developing innovative practices to maintain resilient relationships within coastal ecosystems amid disturbances from exploitation, predators, and extreme climatic events. By weaving ecological, archaeological, and Indigenous knowledge, I will share recent discoveries from Canada’s west coast kelp forests and ancestral clam gardens to show how linking ecosystems and people and democratizing marine science can help us navigate towards more ecologically resilient and socially just operating space for Canada’s coastal oceans and beyond.
Bio: " I am an applied marine ecologist and professor at Simon Fraser University working at the nexus of community and ecosystem ecology, sustainability science, and ocean policy. My research aims to advance our understanding of the relationships between humans and the productivity, biodiversity, and resilience of marine ecosystems with the goal of informing ecologically sustainable and socially just management policies. I work across disciplines and sectors to catalyze transdisciplinary research that addresses environmental challenges of concern to Canadian and global society. To that end, I cultivate research partnerships among Indigenous knowledge holders, government and non-government organizations, and natural and social scientists. As a strong advocate of evidence-based decision making, I link science to policy by co-designing my research with Indigenous, provincial, and federal government agencies and resource users from the outset, with knowledge mobilization as a fundamental goal of my research. Much of my work aims to incorporate archaeological and Indigenous knowledge into quantitative ecological analyses to provide greater time-depth to my analyses of coastal system dynamics and democratize ocean science and governance.” Queen's Outdoor Field Experience Initiative (QOFEI) Abstract: Fieldwork and outdoor research are important (and fun) components of Biological and Environmental sciences, but numerous barriers exist that may prevent student engagement. We believe that all students should have the opportunity to develop outdoor research skills and build their confidence and comfort in the outdoors. Originally established as a sub-committee of the Biology Department’s EDI committee, the Queen’s Outdoor Field Experience Initiative (QOFEI) is dedicated to mitigating these barriers and improving accessibility to outdoor-based learning. In 2021, QOFEI conducted a survey of the Queen’s community addressing barriers to field research and outdoor education. Some of the main barriers identified by the survey that prevented students from participating in outdoor research opportunities at Queen’s include financial, cultural, and knowledge barriers. This February, QOFEI will be opening its Lending Library to help address financial barriers and the hidden cost of field work. QOFEI seeks to share some of the research that motivated forming this initiative, the survey results, our current initiatives within the biology department, and answer questions about future goals.
Dr. Vasilis Kokkoris Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Nuclear dynamics in the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Abstract: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are an ecologically and economically important group of asexual soil fungi that are found everywhere on earth. AMF form the most widespread terrestrial symbiosis, known as mycorrhizal symbiosis, with the roots of approximately 70% of land plants. These widespread symbionts have a distinct nuclear organization with thousands of nuclei flowing simultaneously within their coenocytic hyphae and spores. Recently it was revealed that these nuclei are either genetically homogeneous (homokaryons) or heterogeneous (dikaryons), whereby thousands of nuclei of two distinct types co-exist at all times. By combining molecular approaches, advanced microscopy and mathematical modeling, I set out to explore the fascinating nuclear dynamics of AMF. Specifically I aim to better understand how the genetically distinct nucleotypes in the dikaryotic strains are coordinated across the mycelia and spores in response to environmental factors and whether the existence of higher genetic diversity present in the dikaryotic strains provide a functional advantage over the homokaryotic strains.
Bio: "My academic journey started in Greece where I completed my masters in biotechnology at the Agricultural University of Athens. I then traveled to the other side of the globe for my PhD. I completed my PhD on microbial ecology/biology at the university of British Columbia in Canada under the supervision of Professor Miranda Hart. The next step took me to Ontario where as a post-doc at the University of Ottawa and at the Agriculture and Agri-food Canada I worked with a dream team: Professor Nicolas Corradi, Dr. Franck Stefani and Dr. Jeremy Dettman. Recently, I moved back to Europe and I am currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Ecological Science at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam where I am establishing my own lab. " Dr. Robert Montgomerie Queen's University Data Rules Blurb: We are in the midst of a revolution in science where data rules. The previous rulers—ideas, publications, and analysis) are still with us but have matured to a state of some stability. The open science movement and the availability of online public data repositories for the past decade is transforming the publication process. As a result, a data repository is now a frequent requirement for publication and is widely accepted as deserving separate credit (and DOI) as a scientific contribution. But data repositories are messy and often incomplete and difficult to use. In July 2021, I started a new position—possibly unique in science—as data editor for The American Naturalist. So far I have handled 63 manuscripts, reviewing the data and code for each accepted paper and providing a list of recommendations to the authors. In this seminar I will summarize what I have learned so far. i will also provide a list of 10 guidelines—data rules—that I hope will make data repositories most useful.
Bio: Bob Montgomerie is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology at Queen’s University where he taught for 40 years before hanging up his skates at the end of 2019. Actually, unlike hockey players who do hang up their skates he is still skating (doing research in evolutionary and behavioural ecology) but is no longer coaching (teaching, mentoring) or managing (admin) his team. Dr. Jenn Coughlan University of North Carolina Chapel Hill The dual role of parental conflict in speciation: Lessons from Mimulus Abstract: A fundamental source of conflict in viviparous organisms stems from differences between maternal and paternal interests in resource allocation to offspring (i.e. parental conflict). Under parental conflict, variance in paternity drives the evolution of paternally derived, resource-acquiring alleles, and maternally derived alleles that distribute resources equally among offspring. In hybrids, mismatches between these parent-of-origin effect alleles can cause inappropriate development of essential nutritive tissues (e.g. placenta or endosperm), and subsequently embryo death. Here, I test the role of parental conflict in generating one of the most common intrinsic barriers in seed plants- Hybrid Seed Inviability (HSI)-using members of the evolutionary and ecological model system; the Mimulus guttatus species complex. I show that HSI has evolved rapidly and repeatedly in this group, and patterns of HSI conform to the predictions of parental conflict. Additionally, genetic mapping suggests that HSI is conferred by nuclear, parent-of-origin effect loci (i.e. loci that affect the probability of death only if maternally or paternally derived). Lastly, using a series of natural surveys and mixed pollination crosses, I find that species with different histories of parental conflict frequently co-occur and hybridize, and hybridization between species with differing histories of parental conflict can indirectly influence growth in non-hybrid seeds. Overall, this work highlights a dual role of parental conflict in the speciation process; both in the origin of reproductive isolation, but also in the dynamics and outcomes of hybridization in nature.
Bio: Jenn Coughlan is an evolutionary geneticist and evolutionary ecologist whose research program revolves around adaptation and speciation in nature. Jenn's work integrates fieldwork, manipulative experiments, quantitative genetics and population genomics to study both plant and animal systems. Jenn got her start at Trent University before moving to the University of Toronto for an MSc. She then completed a PhD at Duke University with John Willis before her current postdoc with Daniel Matute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Jenn is currently gearing up to start her own research group in summer of 2022 in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at Yale University. |
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