Elmer Lab

Work from Li Chao's research visit with us: Li, C., Wang, J., Chen, J., Schneider, K., Veettil, R.K., Elmer, K.R. and Zhao, J., 2020. Native bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis and silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix populations in the Pearl River are threatened by Yangtze River introductions as revealed by mitochondrial DNA. Journal of Fish Biology. in press online early Culturally and economically important fishes with conservation challenges due to people stocking fry and building dams. Abstract Bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis and silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix have been two economically important aquaculture species in China for centuries. In the past decades, bighead and silver carp have been introduced from the Yangtze River to many river systems in China, including the Pearl River, in annual, large‐scale, stocking activities to enhance wild fisheries. Nonetheless, few studies have assessed the ecological or genetic impacts of such introducti...

Paper led by PhD Student Kevin Schneider analysed all available transcriptome data for salmonids, to ask: at the molecular evolution level, what is similar about rapidly diversifying lake salmonids? Schneider, K., Adams, C.E. and Elmer, K.R., 2019. Parallel selection on ecologically relevant gene functions in the transcriptomes of highly diversifying salmonids. BMC genomics, 20(1), pp.1-23. open access paper available here Abstract Background Salmonid fishes are characterised by a very high level of variation in trophic, ecological, physiological, and life history adaptations. Some salmonid taxa show exceptional potential for fast, within-lake diversification into morphologically and ecologically distinct variants, often in parallel; these are the lake-resident charr and whitefish (several species in the genera Salvelinus and Coregonus ). To identify selection on genes and gene categories associated with such predictable diversifications, we analysed 2702 orthogroups (4.82 Mbp...