ORCID Profile
0000-0002-6544-5532
Current Organisations
Technical University of Denmark
,
University of Pretoria
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-08-2021
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.14229
Abstract: Intraspecific ersity is a significant component of adaptive potential, and thus, it is important to identify the evolutionary processes that have and will continue to shape the molecular ersity of natural populations. This study aims to untangle the possible drivers of intraspecific molecular ersity by testing whether patterns of historical climatic stability or contemporary range position correlate with molecular ersity. South African coastline. The cape urchin ( Parechinus angulosus ), common shore crab ( Cyclograpsus punctatus ) and granular limpet ( Scutellastra granularis ). Species distributions were hindcasted to the Last Glacial Maximum to assess the biogeography of the study species. Linear models were built to compare the relationships between historical climatic stability or contemporary distributional ranges with extant genetic (mtDNA) and genomic (SNP) ersity. We found large differences in the historical ranges among species and time periods. Regions of higher habitat stability corresponded to regions of higher molecular ersity, but historical climatic variability was not a predictor of molecular ersity within linear models. Lower genetic ersity values, and higher genetic differentiation, were detected in edge populations, but this was not consistent across marker type or species. Both historical and contemporary processes are potentially driving patterns of ersity, but a large portion of the variation in molecular ersity remains unexplained. Our findings suggest that marine species within cool‐temperate bioregions in the Southern Hemisphere may have more complex biogeographic and evolutionary histories than terrestrial taxa and/or coastal species within northern, formerly glaciated regions.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-03-2022
Abstract: Targeted sequencing is an increasingly popular next‐generation sequencing (NGS) approach for studying populations that involves focusing sequencing efforts on specific parts of the genome of a species of interest. Methodologies and tools for designing targeted baits are scarce but in high demand. Here, we present specific guidelines and considerations for designing capture sequencing experiments for population genetics for both neutral genomic regions and regions subject to selection. We describe the bait design process for three erse fish species: Atlantic salmon, Atlantic cod and tiger shark, which was carried out in our research group, and provide an evaluation of the performance of our approach across both historical and modern s les. The workflow used for designing these three bait sets has been implemented in the R‐package supeRbaits, which encompasses our considerations and guidelines for bait design for the benefit of researchers and practitioners. The supeRbaits R‐package is user‐friendly and versatile. It is written in C++ and implemented in R. supeRbaits and its manual are available from Github: github.com/BelenJM/supeRbaits
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2023
DOI: 10.1016/J.TREE.2022.09.006
Abstract: Integrative and proactive conservation approaches are critical to the long-term persistence of bio ersity. Molecular data can provide important information on evolutionary processes necessary for conserving multiple levels of bio ersity (genes, populations, species, and ecosystems). However, molecular data are rarely used to guide spatial conservation decision-making. Here, we bridge the fields of molecular ecology (ME) and systematic conservation planning (SCP) (the 'why') to build a foundation for the inclusion of molecular data into spatial conservation planning tools (the 'how'), and provide a practical guide for implementing this integrative approach for both conservation planners and molecular ecologists. The proposed framework enhances interdisciplinary capacity, which is crucial to achieving the ambitious global conservation goals envisioned for the next decade.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-05-2021
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.15651
Abstract: Characterising and predicting species responses to anthropogenic global change is one of the key challenges in contemporary ecology and conservation. The sensitivity of marine species to climate change is increasingly being described with forecasted species distributions, yet these rarely account for population level processes such as genomic variation and local adaptation. This study compares inter‐ and intraspecific patterns of biological composition to determine how vulnerability to climate change, and its environmental drivers, vary across species and populations. We compare species trajectories for three ecologically important southern African marine invertebrates at two time points in the future, both at the species level, with correlative species distribution models, and at the population level, with gradient forest models. Reported range shifts are species‐specific and include both predicted range gains and losses. Forecasted species responses to climate change are strongly influenced by changes in a suite of environmental variables, from sea surface salinity and sea surface temperature, to minimum air temperature. Our results further suggest a mismatch between future habitat suitability (where species can remain in their ecological niche) and genomic vulnerability (where populations retain their genomic composition), highlighting the inter‐ and intraspecific variability in species’ sensitivity to global change. Overall, this study demonstrates the importance of considering species and population level climatic vulnerability when proactively managing coastal marine ecosystems in the Anthropocene.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-04-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-022-10529-W
Abstract: Over the last century, many shark populations have declined, primarily due to overexploitation in commercial, artisanal and recreational fisheries. In addition, in some locations the use of shark control programs also has had an impact on shark numbers. Still, there is a general perception that populations of large ocean predators cover wide areas and therefore their ersity is less susceptible to local anthropogenic disturbance. Here we report on temporal genomic analyses of tiger shark ( Galeocerdo cuvier ) DNA s les that were collected from eastern Australia over the past century. Using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) loci, we documented a significant change in genetic composition of tiger sharks born between ~1939 and 2015. The change was most likely due to a shift over time in the relative contribution of two well-differentiated, but hitherto cryptic populations. Our data strongly indicate a dramatic shift in the relative contribution of these two populations to the overall tiger shark abundance on the east coast of Australia, possibly associated with differences in direct or indirect exploitation rates.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-03-2017
DOI: 10.1111/COBI.12875
Abstract: Growing threats to bio ersity and global alteration of habitats and species distributions make it increasingly necessary to consider evolutionary patterns in conservation decision making. Yet, there is no clear-cut guidance on how genetic features can be incorporated into conservation-planning processes, despite multiple molecular markers and several genetic metrics for each marker type to choose from. Genetic patterns differ between species, but the potential tradeoffs among genetic objectives for multiple species in conservation planning are currently understudied. We compared spatial conservation prioritizations derived from 2 metrics of genetic ersity (nucleotide and haplotype ersity) and 2 metrics of genetic isolation (private haplotypes and local genetic differentiation) in mitochondrial DNA of 5 marine species. We compared outcomes of conservation plans based only on habitat representation with plans based on genetic data and habitat representation. Fewer priority areas were selected for conservation plans based solely on habitat representation than on plans that included habitat and genetic data. All 4 genetic metrics selected approximately similar conservation-priority areas, which is likely a result of prioritizing genetic patterns across a genetically erse array of species. Largely, our results suggest that multispecies genetic conservation objectives are vital to creating protected-area networks that appropriately preserve community-level evolutionary patterns.
No related grants have been discovered for Romina Henriques.