April 19: (Non)parallel evolution in salmon

Posted on by

Among recent studies of parallel and convergent evolution, appreciation is growing for the ubiquity and importance of non-parallelism, or variation in the extent of parallelism due to differences in the direction or magnitude of divergence among ecotype pairs. In this talk, I’ll first discuss a recent review of studies of parallel evolution in fishes with the goal of determining just how parallel is parallel evolution? Next, I’ll explore two potential drivers of non-parallelism, sexual selection and evolutionary history, in two salmon species. Finally, I’ll briefly outline our NCEAS SASAP working group project on declines in salmon size and age in Alaska. Overall, I hope to highlight the variable extent of parallelism in studies of ostensibly parallel evolution and the value of investigating sources of variation among evolutionary replicates.

Speaker: Krista Oke

Krista is a graduating PhD student from Andrew Hendry’s lab at McGill University, Montreal, where she studied (non)parallel evolution in fishes. Previously, she completed her honours research on hybrids between brown trout and genetically modified Atlantic salmon at Memorial University of Newfoundland, under the supervisor of Ian Fleming. Next month, she will begin a postdoc with Eric Palkovacs at UCSC, as part of an NCEAS SASAP working group project focused on declining salmon size and age in Alaska.