AGM Banquet Dinner
The ESO 2010 Banquet Dinner will be held in the Terrace Room and will include a selection of fine dining entree’s to choose from (see registration form) including special dietary needs. While you dine and discuss the day’s presentations with your colleagues, Nusha Keyghobadi of the University of Western Ontario will give the Banquet address on her work with landscape genetics.
The Banquet is included in the registration fee for those attending the conference, but for those attendees who wish to bring a dinner guest not attending the rest of the meeting, separate banquet passes can be purchased for $45 before Sept. 15th, or $50 after the 15th.
Banquet Speaker – Dr. Nusha Keyghobadi
Title: Landscape genetics across multiple spatial scales: case studies using insects
It has long been recognized that landscape influences patterns of genetic differentiation among populations, the ultimate expression of this being speciation by vicariance. Studies in the emerging field of landscape genetics take advantage of modern molecular and mapping tools to deepen our understanding of how the composition and spatial configuration of landscapes shape levels and patterns of genetic diversity within species. As in landscape ecological studies, patterns and processes in landscape genetics operate over a range of temporal and spatial scales. However, the role of scale has only recently started to receive attention in landscape genetics. I will present a unique case study of an alpine butterfly, the Rocky Mountain Apollo, in which consistent effects of landscape structure on genetic variation have been demonstrated across a range of spatial and temporal scales. I will also introduce a new study system, the insect inquilines of the carnivorous northern pitcher plant, as a model system to further explore questions of scale in landscape genetics.
Photo Credit: Lindsay Crawford
Research Summary
I am interested in patterns of spatial genetic structure within species, the processes that produce those patterns, and the consequences for ecological and evolutionary dynamics of populations. Most of my work fits within the emerging and rapidly growing field of ‘landscape genetics’. Landscape genetics is an exciting and highly integrative field concerned with how landscape structure influences the distribution of genetic variation within and among populations via effects on dispersal, gene flow, demography and effective size. I have made significant contributions to landscape genetics including new approaches to examining the relationship between landscape change and genetic diversity. Of course, I work primarily with insects, which provide excellent model systems for addressing questions in landscape genetics. Two main study systems in my lab are the fascinating inquiline inhabitants of the carnivorous northern pitcher plant (a midge, a mosquito and a flesh fly), as well as butterflies that occupy fragmented habitats.