Brenna Forester

Hybrids Along a Natural‐Anthropogenic Gradient: Improving Policy and Management Across All Levels of Biodiversity Hybridization has long been a central topic in evolution and conservation. Recent developments in genomics have increased the ability to detect hybridization, defined here as breeding between species....

We have another publication out! 🎉🎉🎉
“Hybrids along a natural–anthropogenic gradient: improving policy and management across all levels of biodiversity.”
We explore how to deal with hybrids in conservation — scientifically and practically. A thread 🧵
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Amy Angert and I are recruiting a #postdoc to participate in a collaborative NSF-funded study of demographic responses to climate across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower. Please repost! jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/224...

i am offering a post-doc position in my brand-new project TreeGD that will investigate genomic diversity of trees species in switzerland, with a special focus on gene conservation units, rare species (but not only), and seeds stands.

apply.refline.ch/273855/1782/...

Systematic attribution of heatwaves to the emissions of carbon majors - Nature Climate change made 213 historical heatwaves reported over 2000–2023 more likely and more intense, to which each of the 180 carbon majors (fossil fuel and cement producers) substantially contributed.

A paper in Nature suggests a quarter of heatwave events from 2000-23 would have been near impossible without anthropogenic climate change. The paper also indicates that major carbon emitters are responsible for around 50% of the increase in intensity of these events. ⚒️ 🧪

Assistant Professor Plant-Microbe Interactions We seek a creative, collaborative, and visionary plant biologist to establish an internationally recognized research program at the forefront of plant-microbe interactions aimed at understanding how t...

The Department of Biology at Colorado State University is hiring an Assistant Professor in the area of plant-microbe interactions! Please spread the word!

jobs.colostate.edu/postings/165...

3 Post doc positions in biodiversity science, genetic indicator assessment and ecological statistics 3 Post doc positions in biodiversity science, genetic indicator assessment and ecological statistics

📢 Post doc! Want to join our team?

We are looking for 3 post docs in biodiversity science, genetic indicator assessment, and ecological statistics for a fixed term of 2 years!

Come unravel the drivers and consequences of global change on biodiversity with us!

DL 24.9.
#universityofhelsinki

Genomic Analysis Reveals Inbreeding in an Island Population of Alexander Archipelago Wolves Island populations are at heightened risk of inbreeding due to reduced mating opportunities with unrelated conspecifics. Extensive inbreeding can result in inbreeding depression (reduced fitness of i...

Neat study from my colleagues at the @usfs.bsky.social National Genomics Center and Alaska Fish & Game. Using genomic CAPTURE, they found that wolves on Prince of Wales Island in SE AK exhibited significant inbreeding, similar to Isle Royale Wolves #ConsGen

About 15-20 yrs ago, a bunch of reviews (inc. 1 by me) made predictions about the future of genomics in conservation. 1 yr ago at ICISB, Robin Waples assessed which of those predictions had been fulfilled. Sam May & Sam Rosenbaum now led the effort to turn this into a review:
doi.org/10.1111/mec....

Don't forget to register for our Hackathon event! We'll be discussing and testing a protocol to check whether published data/code is actually reproducible...

Registration closes on the 15th September 🕤

Find out more and register here 👉 buff.ly/XTON0lV

Is Colossal a threat to Science or Is it Science's Last Hope for the Next Generation?

Just got a 🧪pitch from a PR claiming to work with Colossal (de-extinction chancers). It was a pre-written article claiming the science sector is carrying out "coordinated attacks" on the co. Spy the headline. They asked if I'd publish it on my Forbes column.

Not enough eye rolls on Earth for this 🙄

Biodiversity conservation requires integration of species-centric and process-based strategies | PNAS Conservation science and policy are geared primarily toward the preservation of species and habitats, with priority often given to the rarest, most...

Conservation needs to focus better on maintaining & enhancing the processes that allow ecosystems to function & adapt in a rapidly changing world

In our new paper we explore key processes - such as evolution, movement & biotic interactions - metrics, & how to conserve them
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Pangolins Should Receive Endangered Protections, U.S. Officials Say

Seven pangolin species proposed for listing as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (gift link):
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/c...

Kym Ottewell presenting a slide featuring a large photo of a ghost bat

Next at #ICCB2025 our symposium on using non-invasive & museum genetic samples for conservation. First up is @kymottewell.bsky.social on using scat DNA for ghost bat individual ID and #consgen. The ghost bat is Australia’s largest carnivorous bat (*bat in photo not to scale!)

Interesting opportunity from AfricaBP: Genomics and Sustainable Solutions for East and Central Africa

To register, click here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

A Fungus Devastated North American Bats. A New Species Could Deliver a Killer Blow.

A Fungus Devastated North American Bats. A New Species Could Deliver a Killer Blow. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/s...

‘De-extinction’ isn’t real, but the conservation questions it raises are - High Country News In the age of gene editing, what does it mean to protect a species?

wrote about fake dire wolves and the real endangered species act for @highcountrynews.org: www.hcn.org/articles/de-...

Trump administration has set Noaa on ‘non-science trajectory’, workers warn Researchers left at US climate agency say drastic cuts could leave air ‘not breathable’ and water ‘not drinkable’

Several of us share thoughts on the dire consequences of ripping NOAA apart:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Los Angeles brims with wildlife. But fires make it harder to survive. Besides burning thousands of homes and displacing residents, the January fires, like earlier ones, upended the natural environment.

“Even though wildlife here have evolved to live in a landscape that burns…the animals are not equipped to survive fires so frequent and so ferocious — the by-product of a changing climate and encroaching human development.” Gift link below:

🧪 #consgen

I’m leaving NOAA on April 28. I never anticipated resigning at any time when I joined the agency 5 yrs ago to help modernize fisheries management and conservation with genomics. Making the work more effective and efficient was the central objective. I loved working at NOAA because… 1/x

How hot can tailed-frogs get? Forester et al. (2025) found that Ascaphus truei and montanus have different responses encoded in their genome. Read more of our #AWnews feature on our homepage AmphibiaWeb.org

Everything is absolutely awful right now but at least we still have tailed frogs - my colleague Amanda Cicchino’s photo is the AmphibiaWeb image of the week with a shout out to our recent tailed frog vulnerability paper: amphibiaweb.org

@amphibiaweb.bsky.social

Conservation Genetics Highlights January 2025, Issue 1

Interested in conservation genetics news? @anitajnorman.bsky.social has started a monthly newsletter on #consgen here: open.substack.com/pub/conserva...

What do evolution and adaptation have to do with predicting vulnerability to climate change? Find out in our new paper led by the amazing Dr. @brennaforester.bsky.social and featuring the WORLD'S COOLEST 🐸 just published in Molecular Ecology: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...!
#congen

I'm super happy to share our newest preprint on whooping crane genomics 🐣🧬

🚨Persistent genomic erosion in whooping cranes despite demographic recovery🚨 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Extremely thankful to @hernmoral.bsky.social and all co-authors!
#conservationgenomics #genomics #whoopingcranes

Lukas Keller, @fieldgenomics.bsky.social and I asked 'What can genome sequence data reveal about population viability?'

Here's what we found: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... 🧪 #consgen

Fish Biologist <p><strong>This is a Direct Hire Public Notice. Please read this Public Notice in its entirety prior to submitting your application for consideration.</strong><br> </p>

Genomics job at NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center being hired off the fish biologist call. They are looking for scientists to lead, plan, and conduct research in the Marine Mammal Molecular Genomics program to support marine mammal conservation 🧬 🦭
#ConservationGenetics #marinemammals

Ocean Heat Killed Half the Common Murres Around Alaska (Gift Article) About four million common murres were killed by a domino effect of ecosystem changes, and the population is showing no signs of recovery, according to new research.

“About half of Alaska’s common murres, some four million birds, died as a result of the marine heat wave, the scientists found. They believe it is the largest documented die-off of a single species of wild birds or mammals.”

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/c...

white clouds in a blue sky with a few gray clouds ALT: white clouds in a blue sky with a few gray clouds

Evolutionary Applications is now on Bluesky!

EU proposal to adapt protection status of the wolf adopted by Bern Convention, paving the way to more flexibility in managing wolf populations Today, the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention voted in favour of the EU proposal to adapt the protection status of the wolf from ‘strictly protected' to ‘protected'.

As expected, the downlisting of the #wolf Canis lupus at the Bern Convention Standing Committee was approved. A thread on some ins and outs. 1/

ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Come to do a PhD with me, @bfraser.bsky.social and @batconservation.bsky.social on using genomics to understand bat population declines 🦇🧬⬇️