Zoom Event: The Bird Genoscape Project
Erica Robertson, a graduate student from the University of Colorado, will be doing a presentation on the Bird Genoscape Project. She will talk about how the Project and its partners are studying the genetic markers of migratory North, Central, and South American birds to enhance conservation of these species. In 2009, the Bird Genoscape Project was created with the goal of developing connectivity maps of at least 100 species of North American migratory birds to understand population- specific trends. The team of people working with this organization include university faculty, postdoctural researchers, and graduate students. The Project also partners with National Audubon Society, Institute for Bird Populations, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
A genoscape is a map of genetic variation across a breeding range of a species. The Project uses a single feather to scan for the genome of the bird in a geographic population. So far, they have completed genoscapes for 19 species and are working on 17 more at this time.
More information from the Bird Genoscape Project website with some great videos about the project:
https://www.birdgenoscape.org/
Erica graduated from George Washington University in 2020 with a B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Although she planned to pursue graduate school, she wanted to first spend time exploring the country and dedicating herself to rock climbing. She moved to Jackson, Wyoming, where she lived for two years and developed a deep interest in alpine climbing, particularly in the Teton Range. During one climbing trip, she encountered the Black Rosy-Finch: a striking black-and-pink bird that breeds above 12,000 feet. She was infatuated by this species and the broader rosy-finch complex, and that experience ultimately inspired her to pursue research on alpine birds in graduate school. Through this interest, she discovered the Ruegg Lab and the Bird Genoscape Project. Conservation genomics felt like a natural integration of her background in genetics with her growing interest in ecology and evolution. In 2022, she joined the Ruegg Lab as a Ph.D. student, where she studies the Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, and Bank Swallow. Broadly, her research seeks to understand how these species adapt to environmental change, and she hopes that her work can help inform conservation strategies that protect vulnerable migratory species in a rapidly warming world.