Ryan Harrigan is an evolutionary biologist at the Center for Tropical Research, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles.

Recent advances in our understanding of how population structure and environmental associations differ across a species range has allowed for new insights as to why variation arises in populations. However, it is still imperative that we use this new information to address real-world, immediate issues these populations face, especially in a rapidly changing world. Although not readily observed in the outward appearance of organisms, an individual’s ability to cope with environmental change is often encoded in their genes. Genomics have the potential to play a pivotal role in conservation not only to detect threats to species and populations, but also to restore biodiversity through manageable actions. For this seminar, I will provide an overview of some of the current approaches using genomic data being used to understand the relationship that organisms have with their environment and how we can track these relationships through both space and time. Using real-world examples ranging from studies looking at the annual cycle of Neotropical migratory songbirds to illegally poached pangolins in Africa, I will illustrate how these new approaches can be applied to aid conservation efforts for a wide variety of species and systems. By seminar’s end, I hope to impart the broad utility and excitement these approaches offer to provide evidence for a new line of biological inquiries on a global scale.

Bio Sketch:
Dr. Harrigan’s main research interests revolve around the broad areas of evolutionary biology and ecology of species and species complexes. The origin of the biodiversity we witness across the globe are influenced by a multitude of factors across various timescales. Although many of these factors may appear separate, they are often interconnected contributing to the not only to the formation of different species but the persistence of populations within species. Particular interesting are cases where additional anthropogenic forces are likely contributing to already complex natural processes. Increases in global transport, land use conversion, and climate change all dramatically alter the way in which humans interact with their environment, and understanding these changes is key to making sound conservation and management decisions. Dr. Harrigan’s current work focuses on how these decisions can be informed by next-generation genomic and remote-sensed datasets and modeling approaches, and what current relationships between organisms and their environments can tell about how they differ in a world subject to rapid anthropogenic change.

https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/person/ryan-harrigan/