Wallace Coffee Talks - 29 January 2019

Wallace Coffee Talks - Winter 2019 

29 January - 12pm - Zoology Museum

Teja Muha (SwanseaUniversity, UK)
Development and application of molecular tools estimating spatial and seasonal distribution patterns of aquatic native and invasive species
Freshwater aquatic invasive species are one of the major causes of decline in aquatic environment. Limiting their impact requires an appropriate management strategy such as early detection and estimations of its spread for its containment or eradication. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is becoming a method of choice for assessing species distribution in aquatic environments. I am going to take you through a journey of (un)limited possibilities that environmental DNA detection based technique has to offer, discovered throughout my PhD, from invasive seaweed all the way up to freshwater fish limited dispersal in fragmented rivers.

Waldir Miron-Berbel-Filho (SwanseaUniversity, UK)
Don’t get fooled by appearances: morphologically similar mangrove killifish species show different genetic structure along the Brazilian coast
Looks can be deceiving. Morphologically similar species may have divergent evolutionary history which lies beneath their skin, hidden on their DNA. On this talk I will tell a short tale about two sympatric killifish species that look that same, but are not! Come over if you like population genetics, molecular ecology, or just want to know a bit more about the fascinating killifishes! You won't be deceived!