This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) and funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2009. The fellowship supports a research and training plan entitled "Integrating genome-wide polymorphism and satellite remote sensing data to explore patterns of adaptive genetic variation" for Adam Freedman. The host institution for this research is the University of California Los Angeles, and the sponsoring scientist is John Novembre.
Understanding the causes of spatial genetic variation is central to understanding the process of evolutionary diversification as well as the extent to which human activities are altering patterns of biodiversity. Because environment can play a large role in genetic differentiation among populations, methods for establishing the link between genetic and environmental variation are of great interest to evolutionary biologists. This research identifies variation in single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) detected in wild populations of an Afrotropical lizard, in order to detect selection on and identify linked candidate genes. Secondly, this research employs recently-developed spatial analysis methods to identify the environmental gradients underlying variation in these genes.
Training goals include laboratory shotgun sequencing and the computational methods for handling large data sets. Broader impacts include providing a framework for whole-genome analysis in non-model organisms to elucidate the mechanisms that permit species to adapt in the face of global climate change. The results of this work are being broadly disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed journals, at scientific meetings, and briefings directly to policymakers, government agencies, and non-governmental conservation organizations.
