January, 2025

Overall

• Sean, Austin, and Emma participated in a weeklong working group meeting for the project Genes from Space, in Bern Switzerland. At this meeting, the group lead a webinar on a pilot tool for estimating genetic diversity using habitat data derived from remote sensing satellite data. The team will also discussed feedback about this tool, and it can be more useful to the target audience – persons in government or NGOs who wish to conserve genetic diversity. The workshop participants included experts in biodiversity, computer science, and satellite information (including NASA and ESA). The project is funded by the International Space Science Institute.
• Emma visited the Vallonia Tree Seedling Nursery in southern Indiana (along with Arboretum horticulturalist Jon Steele) to pick up rootstock and get a lesson in grafting! The rootstock and new skills will support the lab's ongoing conservation efforts for butternut (Juglans cinerea), specifically by attempting to propagate old or sick individual trees to ensure the survival of their genetic diversity. 

Publications

• 2025. Robyn E. Shaw, Katherine A. Farquharson, Michael W. Bruford, David J. Coates, Carole P. Elliott, Joachim Mergeay, Kym M. Ottewell, Gernot Segelbacher, Sean Hoban, … [49 authors…], Cristiano Vernesi & Catherine E. Grueber. “Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss.” Nature. Open Access.
  • This article provides the most comprehensive global picture of within-population genetic change over time for individual species, via a survey of thousands of previously published papers. The study documents that two-thirds of populations are losing genetic diversity, due to different ecological disturbances. Importantly, the study also tested and showed that conservation interventions can help slow or reverse this loss of genetic diversity. Supplementing populations and restoring connectivity between populations can improve the genetic health of species’ populations. This study was a product of six years of effort from more than 50 co-authors around the world, involving thousands of hours of data collection and curation, truly a collaborative, global effort.
  • The study was covered by news articles in Nature, Science, The Independent, The Guardian, Australian Geographic, and numerous institutional news outlets (U Sydney, etc).