Hana Thompson

The Importance of Effective Population Size in Conservation and Biodiversity Monitoring Effective population size (Ne) is a key concept in biology and conservation. Stripped to its bare essentials, it reflects how much genetic drift a population experiences, expressed as a number of ind...

We have compiled a special issue for @evolappjournal.bsky.social on Effective population size in Conservation and Biodiversity Monitoring, dedicated to the late Michael W. Bruford.
This SI is a must read for everyone who struggles with what "effective population size" means.
#consgen

Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential A capacity to adapt is essential for a population to avoid extinction in a changing world and is recognised as a global conservation priority. Adaptation requires additive (heritable) genetic variatio...

I'm excited to share that our preprint is now available on bioRxiv! Our study challenges the widespread use of molecular genetic diversity as a predictor adaptive potential, with important implications for how genetic data is used to inform conservation decisions.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Schematic of key tidypopgen functions. Functions integrating with external packages are annotated with the package name.

📖Published📖

Carter et al. present tidypopgen, a new R package for population genetic analysis of SNP data which combines existing methods for computational efficiency with an easy to use object structure 🧬 🌍 🧪

buff.ly/huubYjs

Optimising Genome‐Wide Detection of Runs of Homozygosity: Impacts of Reference Genome Quality and Sequencing Parameters on Inbreeding Assessment Inbreeding and inbreeding depression pose a critical challenge to the persistence of small and isolated populations, driving the need for precise assessment of genomic metrics. Genome-wide runs of ho...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A comic called Animals with Misleading Names. There's an electric eel labeled "not an eel". There's a mountain goat labeled "not a goat." There's a maned wolf labeled "not a wolf." There's a king cobra labeled "not a cobra. Also, snakes are typically self-governing." There's a peacock mantis shrimp labeled "Not a peacock. Not a mantis. Also, not a shrimp." There's a horny toad labeled "Not a toad. Only thinks of you as a friend." There's a mayfly labeled "active through the spring and summer." There's an eastern kingbird labeled "found in the west. Many birds do not recognize its authority."

Animals with misleading names. I'm seeing this go around as part of a viral tumblr thread so I thought I'd reshare it.

I am thrilled to share this paper outlining some ideas I’ve been thinking about for a little while on a simple but powerful approach for predicting risk of inbreeding depression from long runs of homozygosity and non-ROH heterozygosity. 1/n @klohmueller.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

‘Things keep evolving into anteaters.’ Odd animals arose at least 12 separate times Findings speak to the dramatic impact ants and termites can have on mammalian evolution

Crab-like creatures are famed for having evolved five times in evolutionary history. But anteaters have evolved at least 12 times--in half the evolutionary span. Cool story by @jakebuehler.bsky.social for @science.org

Some recently published work with Amy Chabot and @denisreale.bsky.social out in Biological Conservation here: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lV9p_9CgT...

Hello #CSEE2025, please check out the following talks from the staff and collaborators of the Research and Conservation team at African Lion Safari. All are applying evolutionary ecology analyses to conservation breeding programs and conservation management!

Comments close today!

New review article out in Molecular Ecology today! We outline how fitness surfaces might help improve species conservation programs! It was a lot of fun to write this with @hthomp.bsky.social, Amy Chabot, & @denisreale.bsky.social

Instead of believing the myth that three expensive, genetically modified wolves are “de-extinct” dire wolves, let’s look at animals humanity has actually brought back from the brink of extinction using proven science and dedicated hard work: 🧵/6

The cover art of a card game called Biome Blitz, there are multiple animals facing each other with a lightning bolt coming down the center. The animals on the left include a Komodo dragon, red spitting cobra, jaguar, crow, clown fish, and dung beetle. The animals on the right include a moray eel, beaver, crocodile, snowy owl, cuckoo finch, and red shrimp.

I've been drawing animals over the last year and I'm excited to share they will be featured in my card game that is launching in September on Kickstarter. If you or anyone you know likes animals and competitive card games, check out our website 🦀: barracudagames.ca

#sciart #wildlifeart

Disentangling the Contributions to Phenotypic Change in Conservation Breeding: A Case Study in a Breeding Program of an Endangered Migratory Songbird Our study uses quantitative genetic modeling to investigate morphological changes in a captive population of endangered Eastern loggerhead shrikes to understand the drivers of phenotypic change in a ...

Very proud of this recent work published in Animal Conservation "Disentangling the Contributions to Phenotypic Change in Conservation Breeding: A Case Study in a Breeding Program of an Endangered Migratory Songbird"
Paper here: zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

For the people in Ontario, go vote! Provincial elections are largely decided on voter turnout. It's a privilege and a responsibility! #YGK #OnPoli #ProvincialElection #CdnPoli

You don't need a voter reg card, just show up with official ID with an address!

www.elections.on.ca/en.html

A picture of Hana Thompson standing in front of a presentation slide displaying cartoon images of DNA and the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake.

Hana @hthomp.bsky.social a fait une excellente présentation sur la génomique de conservation du crotale Massasauga à @qcbs.ca!

Hana @hthomp.bsky.social gave an excellent presentatiom on the conservation genomics of the Massasauga Rattlesnake at @qcbs.ca!

Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss - Nature A comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity covering more than three decades of research demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation i...

Out now in @nature.com! Our comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation interventions that could mitigate this process
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪🌍🦤🧬
#consgen #PopGen

R Color Palette Finder The ultimate tool for finding the perfect color palette for data visualization with R and paletteer. Explore over 2000 palettes, see them in action on various charts, simulate color blindness, and exp...

I was today years old when I found this gem of a web app to explore 2500+ color palettes for R:

r-graph-gallery.com/color-palett...

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...

Call for Papers

Scope of collection

Calling for your paper for the upcoming collection:
Genomics of endangered species
🐬🐒🐸🐍🫎🐧🦉🌴🌿

#consgen
#conservationgenetics
#conservationgenomics

I’m very happy to be serving as Guest Editor and eager to read your submission.

Deadline: 13 August 2025
More info:
bit.ly/48VA9l6
@BioMedCentral

Title block

First page of letter to government

BREAKING: The Ontario Professional Planners Institute has submitted an 8-page letter to the Government of Ontario opposing the removal of bike-lanes in Toronto or any other municipal jurisdiction.

They make a very thorough case, connecting the dots with evidence.

ontarioplanners.ca/inspiring-kn...