Phylogeography and conservation genetics of seadragons
Josefin Stiller
jstiller@ucsd.edu Ph.D. in Marine Biology Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California San Diego M.S. in Organismic Biology and Evolution Humboldt University Berlin, Germany B.S. in Biology Free University Berlin, Germany |
|
I am interested in the natural history and evolution of the staggering diversity of animals. I use molecular tools, increasingly high-throughput sequencing technologies, to explore patterns of diversity and infer underlying processes.
My current research focuses on a spectacular group of fishes, the Syngnathidae, and here mostly on the seadragons. I use genetic markers to study how seadragon populations are structured across their range in Australia and how historical processes have shaped contemporary genetic diversity. This work has implications for the management and conservation of these fishes in Australia. In the course of this work, we unexpectedly discovered a new species of seadragon, the Ruby Seadragon.
With collaborators I work on disentangling the evolutionary relationships of Syngnathidae, so seahorses, pipefishes, pipehorses and seadragons. A well-resolved phylogenetic tree will help us better understand the evolution of fascinating traits like male brooding, body armor and elongate snouts. We are using targeted capture of ~1000 genetic regions and samples of several hundred individuals to reconstruct the phylogeny of this group.
My current research focuses on a spectacular group of fishes, the Syngnathidae, and here mostly on the seadragons. I use genetic markers to study how seadragon populations are structured across their range in Australia and how historical processes have shaped contemporary genetic diversity. This work has implications for the management and conservation of these fishes in Australia. In the course of this work, we unexpectedly discovered a new species of seadragon, the Ruby Seadragon.
With collaborators I work on disentangling the evolutionary relationships of Syngnathidae, so seahorses, pipefishes, pipehorses and seadragons. A well-resolved phylogenetic tree will help us better understand the evolution of fascinating traits like male brooding, body armor and elongate snouts. We are using targeted capture of ~1000 genetic regions and samples of several hundred individuals to reconstruct the phylogeny of this group.
Seadragon research |
Other projects• Phylogeny of Terebelliformia (Annelida) based on transcriptomic data
• Phylogeography of deep-sea Amphisamytha |
About me |
