Awardee: Kelly Barr
Department: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Funding Source: La Kretz Center Graduate Grant
Efforts towards the conservation and recovery of declining species can be greatly enhanced with an understanding of genetic relationships among groups, gene flow regimes, and the effects of landscape features (eg, available habitat, urban area, agricultural activities) on connectivity. I am using a massive genomic dataset to analyze these issues in Tricolored Blackbirds, a species that has undergone sharp declines and is under intense management throughout the state of California.