I admit in advance that I’m biased, but I think that today’s symposium organized by our postdocs Scott Taylor and Leo Campagna included many of the best talks in all of the AOU/COS meeting. Scott led off the day with an overview of open questions in speciation research that can be addressed with genomic approaches, and Leo followed with an overview of the new methods available to address these topics. Twenty excellent talks followed, including particularly strong presentations by six current members of our lab group:
Grad student Petra Deane-Coe: GENOMIC SIGNATURES OF RAPID ADAPTIVE DIVERGENCE IN THE SWAMP SPARROW
Grad student Nick Mason: DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES UNITE PHENOTYPES AMIDST UNDIFFERENTIATED ANONYMOUS LOCI IN THE PHENOTYPICALLY DIVERSE REDPOLL FINCHES (ACANTHIS)
Recently fledged grad student Dan Baldassarre: GENOMIC AND MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF A SEMI-PERMEABLE AVIAN HYBRID ZONE SUGGESTS ASYMMETRICAL INTROGRESSION OF A SEXUAL SIGNAL
Postdoc Scott Taylor: CONSISTENT GENOMIC SIGNATURES OF REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION IN A MOVING AVIAN HYBRID ZONE
Postdoc Leo Campagna: DIVERGENT PHENOTYPES DESPITE (MOSTLY) HOMOGENEOUS GENOMES: INSIGHTS FROM A RECENT NEOTROPICAL AVIAN RADIATION
Incoming postdoc David Toews: GENOMIC VARIATION IN YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS
Also among the many other great talks were presentations by lab alumni and/or long-time colleagues Mike Harvey, Ben Winger, Chris Balakrishnan, and Becca Safran.
Fascinating talks all around! Special kudos to Leo and Scott for their organizational prowess and wisdom in pulling together this group of more than twenty exceptional researchers.