Title: There and back again: Genes-to-ecosystem connectivity for sustainable aquatic biodiversity outcomes
Freshwater fish populations are in rapid decline across the globe due to many factors including, but not limited to, overharvesting, invasive species and disease, land use change, and climate change. As human population numbers continue to climb the need for sustainable practices that provide win-win solutions for both freshwater biodiversity protection and social well-being become ever more important. By taking an integrative approach across the genes-to-ecosystem nexus, we can begin to understand how freshwater diversity evolves, how it is maintained, and what contributes to population declines to better inform management and mitigation decisions. In this talk, we will focus on three case studies of freshwater fish that encompass part of genes-to-ecosystem paradigm: 1. How local adaptation can arise in the face of high gene flow in waterfall-climbing Hawaiian gobies, 2. How invasive species can impact native biodiversity and mitigation strategies in Hawaiian streams, and 3. How molecular tools can be applied to improve biodiversity in hydropower-impacted riverine systems. Each of these examples will demonstrate the value of taking a holistic approach to species management and conservation to hopefully bring what once was there back again.
Biosketch
Dr. Kristine N. Moody is a Molecular Ecologist in the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Group in the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. She received her B.S. from the University of Florida in Biochemistry and her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Clemson University. She was Postdoctoral Research Associate at Tulane University and the University of Tennessee Knoxville before joining ORNL. Her research focuses on understanding aquatic biodiversity across the genome-phenome-ecosystem nexus. Specifically, Kristine uses a combination of field-based, molecular, and modeling approaches to access the impacts of human-mediated environmental change on freshwater fishes and ecosystems. In partnership with state and federal agencies, local and indigenous communities, and K-12 schools, her work has resulted in real-world adoption of management and mitigation practices to protect and preserve at-risk fish species.
