Art, Science, and Writing in and about the Galapagos: we just returned from the field component of our three-class curriculum for freshmen that uses the Galapagos Islands as a linked framework for training in writing, evolutionary biology, and artistic expression. My thanks to the course leaders — Liz, Nick, Scott,…
Current postdoc David Toews just got the fantastic news that he has been awarded a two-year Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship! This very prestigious award from the Canadian government goes only to the very top Canadian scholars across all disciplines in science and medicine. We are very excited that David plans to…
Postdocs David Toews and Scott Taylor gave a riveting hour-long, interactive presentation to the Lab of Ornithology board on the genomics of speciation in warblers. Despite the highly technical nature of their topic, they were able to explain their studies and findings in language that was totally accessible to this…
Required reading on avian genomics… Marshaling a diverse group of co-authors, post-docs Dave Toews, Scott Taylor and Leonardo Campagna spearheaded the publication of a new synthetic review in the Auk: Ornithological Advances on genomic applications in avian systems. Lab PhD students Nicolas Mason and Petra Deane-Coe are also co-authors on…
Our crew at AOU: Scott, David, Leo, and Nick:
Postdoc David Toews gave his talk at AOU/COS on Extensive biogeographic introgression and weak genomic divergence between phenotypically distinct wood warblers. This collaborative project is using new genomic tools to better understand the dynamics of hybridization between golden-winged and blue-winged warblers. The new data confirm that hybridization is likely facilitating…
David’s talk at Evolution: genomics of hybridizing warblers. Postdoc David Toews’ talk at the Evolution conference in Brazil covered his ongoing work on the hybridization genomics of the Myrtle and Audubon’s forms of Yellow-rumped Warblers, and on admixture mapping that is revealing interesting candidate genes for traits that differ between…
Current lab members in Guarujá: six of our current lab members are presenting their research this week at the Evolution conference in Guarujá, Brazil: (from left to right) Jake Berv, David Toews, Stepfane Aguillon, Leo Campagna, Scott Taylor, and Nick Mason. By all reports, their talks and presentations have all…
These birds aren’t as different as they appear …. the first in our lab group’s series of talks at the Evolution meeting in Brazil:
Postdoc David Toews just had a nice commentary piece titled “A genomic guide to bird population history” published in Current Biology. From the Summary: “How species responded to the climatic oscillations during the past few million years is debated. A new study analyzing the genomes of 38 bird species finds…
David mentored the first author, a UBC undergraduate, on this project that used remote field recordings near an urban roost in Vancouver to estimate roost departure time. They found that northwestern crows seemed to maintain a semi-natural circadian rhythm in their roost departures, even with strong variation between days in…
No, just postdoc David Toews looking really excited about dropping off three lanes of warbler DNAs to the core genomics facility.
David’s commentary in The Auk provides a nicely balanced perspective on the opportunities and challenges of using different criteria to define avian species. Clicking on this post will open this announcement in a window where you can download David’s full commentary: Toews 2014 species commentary
A warm welcome to new postdoc Dr. David Toews, who comes to the Lab as an NSERC postdoctoral fellow. David did his PhD on the hybridization genetics of Yellow-rumped Warblers at the University of British Columbia, where he was supervised by Darren Irwin.