Class for 3/5

Rick will be covering the second part of his section on invasive species and population genetics, papers were already assigned back when the class was originally scheduled. A note from him...

We are looking at population genetic factors that might be important in altering the evolutionary path (or trajectory) on an introduced species. We covered bottlenecks and inbreeding, factors that impact small populations. I gave some examples of these and discussed (briefly) how these are measured (with diversity statistics). We were then beginning to discuss some case studies. I will present some info on two Water Hyacinth and Cheatgrass (which Jenn mentioned last class as well) and then we will discuss the ants and other examples.

Later in the semester, I will be continuing this theme of "changing evolutionary trajectories" in a discussion of hybridization and rapid changes/responses to selection pressures.

In addition, there is a new article out about reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) that Rick sent out a copy of this weekend:

Lavergne, Sébastien and Molofsky, Jane. 2007. "Increased genetic variation and evolutionary potential drive the success of an invasive grass." PNAS. 104(10): 3883-3888.

Please be sure to at least look at the abstract and figures of that paper if you do not have time to read the whole article.