I just received my heavy summer read, Conservation and the Genetics of Populations by Fred Allendorf & Gordon Luikart. This seems to be what I need as a refresher on the utility of genetic information for conservation purposes. Has anyone else read this or used it? I'm already impressed just having read the Preface and Chapter 1; on to changes in allele frequencies, predicted values of F(ST), and all that.....

Okay, you're been reading it for a month now, what have you learned?

I finished chapter 6 of 20 this evening; I've been poking along, with irregular fits and starts. This is mostly material that I've "learned" at various points, especially in graduate school, but I want to go back over it in a comprehensive way since my research interests are going in that direction. And, I've read Fred Allendorf's writing before and he's a clear writer (not always the case).

What I'm trying to get out of this is to refresh my view of the best approaches (and broad context) to examining and analyzing small and increasingly isolated populations (such as stream fishes...) for loss of genetic diversity. This loss can weaken a population/species in a variety of ways. Molecular tools for the examination of DNA and genomic structure in any organism are becoming more powerful and open up the possibility of a wide range of questions to ask. Sometimes a relatively simple technique is good, which is what I'm currently doing with stippled studfish, Fundulus bifax, from the Tallapoosa River drainage in Alabama through the examination of a single gene in the mitochondrial DNA. Once you get such raw data one needs to understand mathematical methods for making head or tail of it, such as how can you tell that this species is genetically uniform, or is made up of populations with sharply different genetic structures? The genetic structure of a vulnerable population should inform how the species is managed, once that decision is made (another can of worms).

One thing I've gotten out of this is to go back to a fairly old-fashioned tool, the construction of a karyotype for a species that tells you how many chromosomes are typical of a species and at least a first take on genomic structure and function. Similar species may have strikingly different karyotypes reflecting evolutionary history.

So, I've been bathing in various mathematical takes on viewing genetic fluctuation and what might it all mean. We're well into the Age of DNA and I want to stay fresh. But catching fish is still the fun part.

Wow. That's a lot. You'd love my cousin Suzie, she's a genestist (spelling?) only for people. She talks circles over my head, too.

I keep worrying about the frogs in the school pond. While the pond is open to the outside in that it has no roof, it is only accessible by going through the building. The frogs keep reproducing, but in such a closed environment, seems to me, there could not be much diversity. I imagine that is what goes on with the Devil Hole Pupfish, both in nature and in the attempts to save them. Certainly, it happens frequently in the aquarium trade. I thought I read once that the less diverse a population, the more mutations, which seems almost paradoxical.

Keep us posted! A clear writer is always a good find!