Molecular techniques can provide insights about historical isolation and population demographics that complement habitat restoration and breeding approaches.

My lab is devoted to considering how genealogical patterns and diversity reflect species' changing interactions with the environment, and with each other. But we want to do more than simply document genetic diversity - there is no reason why we can't make profound observations about the evolution and ecology of these species at the same time.

In some cases, it is now time to focus on the potential for adaptive evolution to define these populations. In what ways are populations locally adapted? In what ways are their novel traits reflective of developmental plasticity, or the capacity to quickly respond to selection? Comparisons of 'unlinked' versus QTL-linked microsatellites in Gila trout, for example, suggest that balancing selection may maintain high levels of diversity at fitness-related traits such as thermal tolerance or timing of reproduction (Wares et al. 2004). We have also examined the frequency of reciprocal monophyly or diagnostic markers at allozyme, microsatellite, nuclear sequence, and mitochondrial loci to understand how different patterns of evolution in these markers reflect the evolution of reproductive isolation (Wares and Turner, in prep).

There is a lot to be learned from comparisons with introduced and invasive species as well - good examples of evolution and/or adaptation in small populations. We are beginning studies on native and introduced populations of yellowfin shiner, and comparisons between declining native freshwater mussels with the invasive Corbicula in the same southeastern rivers. Stay tuned for more!

Turner,T.F., J. P. Wares, and J. R. Gold. 2002. Genetic effective size is three orders of magnitude smaller than adult census size in an abundant, estuarine-dependent marine fish (Sciaenops ocellatus). Genetics 162: 1329-1339.

Wares, J. P., D. Alò, and T. F. Turner. 2004. Successful implementation of recovery goals for endangered southwestern trout: a genetic perspective. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 61: 1890-1899.

Wares, J. P., A. R. Hughes, and R. K. Grosberg. 2005. Invasive species and evolutionary processes. In D. Sax, J. Stachowicz, and S. D. Gaines, eds. Species Invasions: Insights into Ecology, Evolution and Biogeography. Sinauer Publishing.

Wares, J. P. and A. M. H. Blakeslee. 2007. AFLP data provide poor solution to the Littorina littorea puzzle. Marine Biology Research 3: 168-174.

Vellend, M., L. J. Harmon, J. L. Lockwood, M. M. Mayfield, A. R. Hughes, J. P. Wares, and D. F. Sax. 2007. Effects of exotic species on evolutionary diversification. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22: 481-488.

Eo, S. H., J. P. Wares, and J. P. Carroll. In press. Subspecies and units for conservation and management of the northern bobwhite in the Eastern United States. Conservation Genetics