ORCID Profile
0000-0001-7159-7391
Current Organisation
Westminster College - Utah
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/MFV71N8_ED
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-09-2023
DOI: 10.1002/EDN3.476
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.CUB.2016.12.004
Abstract: Reduction in seawater pH due to rising levels of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2017
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 11-06-2021
DOI: 10.3390/LIFE11060553
Abstract: Olearia pannosa is a plant species listed as vulnerable in Australia. Two subspecies are currently recognised (O. pannosa subsp. pannosa (silver daisy) and O. pannosa subsp. cardiophylla (velvet daisy)), which have overlapping ranges but distinct leaf shape. Remnant populations face threats from habitat fragmentation and climate change. We analysed range-wide genomic data and leaf shape variation to assess population ersity and ergence and to inform conservation management strategies. We detected three distinct genetic groupings and a likely cryptic species. S les identified as O. pannosa subsp. cardiophylla from the Flinders Ranges in South Australia were genetically distinct from all other s les and likely form a separate, range-restricted species. Remaining s les formed two genetic clusters, which aligned with leaf shape differences but not fully with current subspecies classifications. Levels of genetic ersity and inbreeding differed between the three genetic groups, suggesting each requires a separate management strategy. Additionally, we tested for associations between genetic and environmental variation and carried out habitat suitability modelling for O. pannosa subsp. pannosa populations. We found mean annual maximum temperature explained a significant proportion of genomic variance. Habitat suitability modelling identified mean summer maximum temperature, precipitation seasonality and mean annual rainfall as constraints on the distribution of O. pannosa subsp. pannosa, highlighting increasing aridity as a threat for populations located near suitability thresholds. Our results suggest maximum temperature is an important agent of selection on O. pannosa subsp. pannosa and should be considered in conservation strategies. We recommend taxonomic revision of O. pannosa and provide conservation management recommendations.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 12-10-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.2209
Abstract: Ecologically dominant species often define ecosystem states, but as human disturbances intensify, their subordinate counterparts increasingly displace them. We consider the duality of disturbance by examining how environmental drivers can simultaneously act as a stressor to dominant species and as a resource to subordinates. Using a model ecosystem, we demonstrate that CO
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.8816
Abstract: Metabarcoding has improved the way we understand plants within our environment, from their ecology and conservation to invasive species management. The notion of identifying plant taxa within environmental s les relies on the ability to match unknown sequences to known reference libraries. Without comprehensive reference databases, species can go undetected or be incorrectly assigned, leading to false‐positive and false‐negative detections. To improve our ability to generate reference sequence databases, we developed a targeted capture approach using the OZBaits_CP V1.0 set, designed to capture chloroplast gene regions across the entirety of flowering plant ersity. We focused on generating a reference database for coastal temperate plant species given the lack of reference sequences for these taxa. Our approach was successful across all specimens with a target gene recovery rate of 92%, which was achieved in a single assay (i.e., s les were pooled), thus making this approach much faster and more efficient than standard barcoding. Further testing of this database highlighted 80% of all s les could be discriminated to family level across all gene regions with some genes achieving greater resolution than others—which was also dependent on the taxon of interest. Thus, we demonstrate the importance of generating reference sequences across multiple chloroplast gene regions as no single loci are sufficient to discriminate across all plant groups. The targeted capture approach outlined in this study provides a way forward to achieve this.
Publisher: Authorea, Inc.
Date: 25-03-2022
DOI: 10.22541/AU.164823556.63225773/V1
Abstract: Metabarcoding has improved the way we understand plants within our environment, from their ecology and conservation to invasive species management. The notion of identifying plant taxa within environmental s les relies on the ability to match unknown sequences to known reference libraries. Without comprehensive reference databases, species can go undetected or be incorrectly assigned, leading to false positive and negative detections. To improve our ability to generate reference sequence databases we developed a targeted capture approach using the OZBaits_CP V1.0 set, designed to capture chloroplast gene regions across the entirety of flowering plant ersity. We focused on generating a reference database for coastal temperate plant species given the lack of reference sequences for these taxa. Our approach was successful across all specimens with a target gene recovery rate of 92% which was achieved in a single assay (i.e., s les were pooled), thus making this approach much faster and more efficient than standard barcoding. Further testing of this database highlighted 80% of all s les could be discriminated to family level across all gene regions with some genes achieving greater resolution than others – which was also dependant on the taxon of interest. Thus, we demonstrate the importance of generating reference sequences across multiple chloroplast gene regions as no single loci is sufficient to discriminate across all plant groups. The targeted capture approach outlined in this study provides a way forward to achieve this.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2019
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 04-07-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.07.03.450983
Abstract: Metabarcoding of plant DNA recovered from environmental s les, termed environmental DNA (eDNA), has been used to detect invasive species, track bio ersity changes and reconstruct past ecosystems. The P6 loop of the trnL intron is the most widely utilized gene region for metabarcoding plants due to the short fragment length and subsequent ease of recovery from degraded DNA, which is characteristic of environmental s les. However, the taxonomic resolution for this gene region is limited, often precluding species level identification. Additionally, targeting gene regions using universal primers can bias results as some taxa will lify more effectively than others. To increase the ability of DNA metabarcoding to better resolve flowering plant species (angiosperms) within environmental s les, and reduce bias in lification, we developed a multi-gene targeted capture method that simultaneously targets 20 chloroplast gene regions in a single assay across all flowering plant species. Using this approach, we effectively recovered multiple chloroplast gene regions for three species within artificial DNA mixtures down to 0.001 ng/µL of DNA. We tested the detection level of this approach, successfully recovering target genes for 10 flowering plant species. Finally, we applied this approach to sediment s les containing unknown compositions of environmental DNA and confidently detected plant species that were later verified with observation data. Targeting multiple chloroplast gene regions in environmental s les enabled species-level information to be recovered from complex DNA mixtures. Thus, the method developed here, confers an improved level of data on community composition, which can be used to better understand flowering plant assemblages in environmental s les.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 05-2017
DOI: 10.1037/A0040409
Abstract: Researchers in the social and behavioral sciences are increasingly using evolutionary insights to test novel hypotheses about human psychology. Because evolutionary perspectives are relatively new to psychology and most researchers do not receive formal training in this endeavor, there remains ambiguity about "best practices" for implementing evolutionary principles. This article provides researchers with a practical guide for using evolutionary perspectives in their research programs and for avoiding common pitfalls in doing so. We outline essential elements of an evolutionarily informed research program at 3 central phases: (a) generating testable hypotheses, (b) testing empirical predictions, and (c) interpreting results. We elaborate key conceptual tools, including task analysis, psychological mechanisms, design features, universality, and cost-benefit analysis. Researchers can use these tools to generate hypotheses about universal psychological mechanisms, social and cultural inputs that lify or attenuate the activation of these mechanisms, and cross-culturally variable behavior that these mechanisms can produce. We hope that this guide inspires theoretically and methodologically rigorous research that more cogently integrates knowledge from the psychological and life sciences. (PsycINFO Database Record
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/MF19175
Abstract: Seagrass, saltmarsh and mangrove habitats are declining around the world as anthropogenic activity and climate change intensify. To be able to effectively restore and maintain healthy coastal-vegetation communities, we must understand how and why they have changed in the past. Identifying shifts in vegetation communities, and the environmental or human drivers of these, can inform successful management and restoration strategies. Unfortunately, long-term data (i.e. decades to hundreds of years) on coastal vegetated ecosystems that can discern community-level changes are mostly non-existent in the scientific record. We propose implementing DNA extracted from coastal sediments to provide an alternative approach to long-term ecological reconstruction for coastal vegetated ecosystems. This type of DNA is called ‘environmental DNA’ and has previously been used to generate long-term datasets for other vegetated systems but has not yet been applied to vegetation change in coastal settings. In this overview, we explore the idea of using sediment eDNA as a long-term monitoring tool for seagrass, saltmarsh and mangrove communities. We see real potential in this approach for reconstructing long-term ecological histories of coastal vegetated ecosystems, and advocate that further research be undertaken to develop appropriate methods for its use.
Publisher: Authorea, Inc.
Date: 24-09-2021
DOI: 10.22541/AU.163252330.05592688/V1
Abstract: A proliferation in environmental DNA (eDNA) research has increased the reliance on reference sequence databases to assign unknown DNA sequences to known taxa. Without comprehensive reference databases, DNA extracted from environmental s les cannot be correctly assigned to taxa, limiting the use of this genetic information to identify organisms in unknown s le mixtures. For animals, standard metabarcoding practices involve lification of the mitochondrial Cytochrome-c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) region, which is a universally lifyable region across majority of animal taxa. This region, however, does not work well as a DNA barcode for plants and fungi, and there is no similar universal single barcode locus that has the same species resolution. Therefore, generating reference sequences has been more difficult and several loci have been suggested to be used in parallel to get to species identification. For this reason, we developed a multi-gene targeted capture approach to generate reference DNA sequences for plant taxa across 20 target chloroplast gene regions in a single assay. We successfully compiled a reference database for 93 temperate coastal plants including seagrasses, mangroves, and saltmarshes/s hire’s. We demonstrate the importance of a comprehensive reference database to prevent species going undetected in eDNA studies. We also investigate how using multiple chloroplast gene regions impacts the ability to discriminate between taxa.
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Nicole Foster.