Jen Walsh Archives - Lovette Lab

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Signals of Adaptive Introgression Between Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows

Postdoc Jen Walsh is the lead on a new study published in Evolution that leverages whole genome data from Saltmarsh and Nelson’s sparrows to investigate the genomic landscape of introgression between these species. By comparing populations in allopatry and sympatry, Jen’s paper shows that contemporary introgression is shaping the genomic…

Really Big News about our Littlest Lab Group Member!

Enormous congratulations to postdoc Jen Walsh and her husband Marc on the birth of their first child, Griffin Leo Emond!!!! We are greatly looking forward to having this very cute little guy join our lab group events when the time comes, and wish Jen and Marc all the best as they experience the innumerable joys of parenthood!

Even sex ratios in Saltmarsh Sparrows despite reasons to predict otherwise

Postdoc Jen Walsh co-authored a new paper in the Auk with collaborators from the University of New Hampshire looking at adaptive sex ratio manipulation in Saltmarsh Sparrows. The authors determined the sex of 990 offspring from 370 nests and characterized variation in site- and population-level sex ratios. They found no…

Lab of Ornithology postdoc group continues to grow

Lots of familiar faces in this photo of 15 (of 24 total at the moment!) Lab of Ornithology postdocs who recently gathered to help welcome newcomer Ryan Germain:

Jen Walsh on adaptive hybridization at AOS

Postdoc Jen Walsh talked on the first morning of the AOS conference about her ongoing work on the hybridization genomics of Nelson’s and Saltmarsh Sparrows. Among Jen’s findings is strong evidence for the transfer of adaptive genes from Saltmarsh Sparrows (which have a long evolutionary history of adaptation to the…

Jen and the Duct Tape Duck

Not related to research but too good not to post here: Postdoc Jen Walsh using duct tape to keep a bandage on the foot of her pet duck:

Our entire crew at the Evolution 2017 meeting in Portland

The current members of our lab group who are at the Evolution meeting in Portland this week: Leo Campagna, Nick Mason, Gavin Leighton, David Toews, Petra Deane-Coe, Shawn Billerman, Jen Walsh, Stepfanie Aguillon, and Eliot Miller. Add in a few talks by researchers from other countries who visited our lab…

Jen Walsh at Evolution 2017

Postdoc Jen Walsh just presented at the Evolution conference in Portland on her ongoing studies of adaptation and gene flow among Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows.

Our Spring Semester 2017 classes are over…

We had a great semester of engagement with lots of Cornell undergraduates this Spring! In addition to the many less formal forms of instruction and mentoring to which everybody contributes, people from our group who were involved in official teaching and advising this semester included: Stepfanie Aguillion: Stepfanie led the…

Galapagos Curriculum 2017

This semester a bunch of us are involved in the 5th offering of the Galapagos curriculum for Cornell undergraduates, including a really wonderful voyage through the archipelago over Spring Break. Course leaders include Stepfanie Aguillon who is teaching the associated Freshman Writing Seminar, Natalie Hoffmeister who is teaching the Evolutionary…

Lucky postdocs in Italy for the Gordon Speciation Conference

Postdocs Jen Walsh and David Toews and Research Associate Leo Campagna are all currently presenting posters and talks at the Gordon Speciation Conference in Tuscany. They were also invited to a pre-conference seminar highlighting cool young investigators. This small conference, with approximately 120 attendees, is focused on the frontiers of…

New paper by Jen Walsh et al on sparrow diversity

Postdoc Jen Walsh and collaborators recently published a paper in Molecular Ecology investigating the genetic structure of the Saltmarsh-Nelson’s sparrow subspecies complex. Using a reduced representation sequencing approach coupled with morphological data, this study offers the first comprehensive view into subspecies variation within Saltmarsh and Nelson’s sparrows. The authors found…

Jen Walsh et al. on the conservation genetics of sparrows

Postdoc Jen Walsh and collaborators recently published a paper in Conservation Genetics investigating the temporal stability of the Saltmarsh-Nelson’s sparrow hybrid zone. By comparing genetic, morphological, and survey data from the same sites from two time periods (1998 and 2013), this study finds that Nelson’s Sparrows are moving further south…

Jen lands a CVG seed grant!

Postdoc Jen Walsh has been awarded a $12K seed grant in support of her work on the genomics of parallel adaptation in salt-marsh-dwelling sparrows. We are particularly grateful to the Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics for this specific award and more generally for creating an interactive network of scholars from…

Our lab group December retreat

Our lab group enjoyed an all-day retreat today, with a break to attend the Lab of Ornithology holiday party. We covered lots of ground in discussing research, outreach, and professional development topics. But perhaps the most important outcome of the sillier part of the late afternoon was the anointing of…

Jen is back from fieldwork in CA

Postdoc Jen Walsh just returned from a very successful trip to southern California, where she was sampling birds like this salt-marsh-dwelling Savannah Sparrow as part of her broader project on avian adaptations to extreme and challenging environments.

Happy SNEEB to all

Happy SNEEB to all: Our lab group joined with the Lab of Ornithology postdocs more generally to host the inaugural Fall semester SNEEB (the Friday social hour for departments with the prior names of Systematics and Ecology, Entomology, and Neurobiology and Behavior…) last evening. Took a little more pre-planning than…

Jen Walsh on saltmarsh sparrow hybridization

Jen Walsh on saltmarsh sparrow hybridization: continuing the series of excellent (I’m biased, but they really have all been excellent) talks by our lab group at the NAOC meeting, postdoc Dr. Jen Walsh presented today on her PhD studies of the relative fitness of saltmarsh sparrows, nelson’s sparrows, and their…

Hybrid Zones Revisited

Hybrid Zones Revisited: photo shows Dr. Vanya Rohwer (CUMV Curator of Birds and Mammals) showing postdoc Jen Walsh a series of specimens collected recently by Vanya and Cornell students as part of an ongoing effort to document changes in species distributions and patterns of genetic interchange.

Jen on sparrow adaptations at Evolution2016

Evolution2016: Postdoc Jen Walsh presented a poster at the 2016 Evolution conference on “Signals of Adaptive Variation in Fresh and Salt Water Populations of Ammodramus Sparrows: Defining Conservation Units Based on Evolutionary Potential” as part of her ongoing research on how these sparrows have adapted (or not) to different environments…

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