A genomic view of African diversity

Supervisor: Prof Andrea Manica

By integrating genetics, ecology, and climate, you will investigate the key drivers that shaped species diversity in the African continent.

Climate change poses a real challenge to biodiversity. But our ability to predict the impacts of global change is limited, preventing us from building robust management strategies. Past change provides an ideal  natural experiment to study the response of species to environmental change.

In this project, we will look at the impact of past change on Africa diversity, using a set of novel tools that combine paleoclimate reconstructions with niche models and population genomics.

You will reconstruct the drivers that has shaped patterns of population genetics diversity in a number of species. By explicitly reconstructing the ranges of these species through time, taking advantage of continuous paleoclimate reconstructions, you will quantify the role of habitat fragmentation on a large scale. By  comparing and contrasting different species, you will then link their ecology to their sensitivity to global change during the last glacial cycle.

References

Miller, E. F. et al. Post-glacial expansion dynamics, not refugial isolation, shaped the genetic structure of a migratory bird, the Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia). bioRxiv 2021.05.10.443405 (2021) http://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.10.443405

Maisano Delser P. et al. Climate and mountains shaped human ancestral genetic lineages. bioRxiv 2021.07.13.452067 (2021) doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.13.452067