Wildlife Conservation Genetics (FWE 375/875)

This course is intended to provide graduate and advanced undergraduate students with an understanding of how genetic methods are applied to problems in conservation biology, with an emphasis on vertebrate species in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The first portion of the course covers general topics in conservation genetics such as the nature of genetic diversity and inbreeding depression. The second portion of the class is method based and covers individual and population-level methods in molecular ecology where students gain practical experience analyzing genetic data. The course includes a mix of lectures, discussions of relevant articles, and computer-based exercises. As such, students should be prepared to read current conservation genetics literature, lead and participate in discussions and analyze genetic data using sample datasets (provided) with genetic software packages. The syllabus from 2010 provides more detail about the nature of this course.

The links below provide examples of lectures that are typical of this course:

• Molecular Markers in Conservation
• Primer in Population Genetics
• Species Identification

The following links provide examples of typical readings for article discussions:

• Schwartz (2007) – Genetic Monitoring
• Palsboll (2007) – Defining Management Units
• Peery (2010) – Genetic Diversity and Habitat Fragmentation