The results of the study highlight the importance of manipulative field experiments when studying biological invasions, and the potential value of red-eared slider removal as a management strategy for the western pond turtle.
Category Archives: Lab News
UCLA La Kretz Center to lead $10 million California conservation project in state-funded initiative that will provide officials with scientific basis for confronting climate change
“This project has the potential to revolutionize how we manage our land,” said Bradley Shaffer, who leads the project and is a UCLA distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director of UCLA’s La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science. “We will apply state-of-the-art techniques to California’s most pressing conservation problems and provide government agencies with the best scientific data to make informed decisions as California’s climate continues to undergo rapid change.”
Read the story in the UCLA Newsroom
Shaffer Lab applies new genomic tools to the conservation of understudied organisms
Brad Shaffer and Evan McCartney-Melstad are featured in the August 2018 podcast from the journal Heredity, which broadcasts interviews with the people behind the journal, the science and a digest of breaking news.
The focus of the podcast is the application of new genomic methods to understudied organisms, including a recent study published by Shaffer and McCartney-Melstad on an endangered species of western US frog (Population genomic data reveal extreme geographic subdivision and novel conservation actions for the declining foothill yellow-legged frog).
Click here to listen to Brad and Evan discuss their application of genomics tools when revisiting the population genetics of the declining foothill yellow-legged frog and how their work may help the US Fish and Wildlife Service determination of whether or not it should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. Their interview begins about 10 minutes into the podcast.
Invasive crayfish lead to more mosquitoes and risk of disease in Southern California
Postdoc Gary Buccairelli discovers that the crayfish disrupt native predators that eat mosquito larvae. Learn more at the UCLA Newsroom and on the National Geographic Website.
Endangered Species and the Case for ‘Sanctuary Cities’
Brad Shaffer is featured in an essay by Ursula K. Heise on the possibility of cities as “urban arks”. Read the story in the June 10, 2018 issue of Wired magazine >>
Conservation genomics can help California modernize its approach to natural resource management
From science to action: Sustainable LA Grand Challenge researchers brief California State Assemblymember Richard Bloom on UCLA research
CalTrans awards grant to Shaffer Lab
Landscape Genomics Study for California Tiger Salamander
The California Tiger Salamander (CTS) is state and federally listed species. As a result, Caltrans is required to consult with regulatory agencies about impacts of transportation projects. A major conservation issue for CTS is the ongoing hybridization with the introduced non‐native Barred Tiger Salamander (BTS). Thus, CTS recovery, in part, depends on preventing the geographical spread of such introgression.
This project will provide measurable effects of roads on the movement of pure CTS genes where undercrossings will be useful to promote movement of native genes and areas where such crossings should not be installed to inhibit the spread of non‐native BTS genes.
The main tasks that will be completed in this research are:
- running simulations to determine how many animals per pond to sequence;
- identifying tissue samples to examine from existing database;
- identifying and collecting new samples from georeferenced sampling locations; and
- collecting molecular data from all samples
NRS video highlights Shaffer Lab
UC Natural Reserve System research has laid the foundation for conserving species across the state. A prime example: UCLA professor Brad Shaffer’s work on California tiger salamanders was instrumental in protecting the upland habitats this endangered amphibian needs to survive.
Welcome visiting professor Ugur Kaya
Professor Ugur Kaya is a Turkish ecologist and herpetologist, and a Full Professor at Ege University, one of the top rated academic institutions in the country. Professor Kaya’s research centers on the ecology, population demography, and conservation of Turkish amphibians, which he has studied since his PhD. He currently is the primary collaborator on an NSF research grant with the Shaffer lab, working on species boundaries in the endangered Turkish salamander genus Lyciasalamandra. These unique animals are geographically restricted to coastal Turkey and several adjacent islands in Greece, and they have been placed in up to 10 very narrowly distributed species on the Lycian coast. In collaboration with UCLA postdoctoral researcher Peter Scott, we are collecting RADseq data on over 150 field-collected samples to redefine species in the group, and use those newly defined taxa as the basic units of conservation in Lyciasalamandra. Ugur is visiting UCLA for two months to complete this project and work with Shaffer and Scott to analyze and write up the resulting data. We welcome Ugur to Los Angeles, the lab, and UCLA.
Netherlands PhD student visits lab
Isolde van Riemsdijk is a visiting PhD student at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands working with Dr. J.W. Arntzen and Dr. B. Wielstra. Her interests lie in the processes of evolution and speciation. Her graduate research focuses on hybridization on a genomic level in amphibian species, with a main focus on moving hybrid zones. She currently studies hybridization between two species of toads, the common toad, Bufo bufo and the spined toad, Bufo spinosus in France. During her visit at the Shaffer lab, she is conducting a ddRAD (double-digest restriction associated DNA) and associated bioinformatics project to characterize this potential example of a moving hybrid zone. Previously she has worked on the genetics of the salamandrid genus Ommatotriton (banded newts). For more information, contact Isolde at isolde.vanriemsdijk@naturalis.nl.