Behavioral Ecology Blog

HELP!
Does anybody have a reference to a paper where sequence data was used to estimate theta (rather than microsatellites) for the purpose of controlling for effective population when looking at selection in different populations and species.
It seems that when looking at selection in multiple species, msats may not offer the best way to subtract out [...]

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OK, so jury duty unfortunately means that I have not been keeping up on current literature.. So, this paper: Wasp Gene Expression Supports an Evolutionary Link Between Maternal Behavior and Eusociality from the 27-Sept issue of Science was missed completely…
Before I get into the paper, I want to rant for a minute about “Next generation” [...]

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There is a cool paper in Evolution this month that demonstrates the power of natural selection. By Kleven, et. al. “Intraspecific Variation in Sperm Length is Negatively Related to Sperm Competition in Passerine Birds“
Abstract:

Spermatozoa are among the most diversified cells in the animal kingdom, but the underlying evolutionary forces affecting intraspecific variation in sperm morphology [...]

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I’m liveblogging a paper that should have been read a long time ago…. An Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective on human-microbe mutualisms and disease from the October 18 issue of Nature. 1st, the abstract:
The microbial communities of humans are characteristic and complex mixtures of microorganisms that have co-evolved with their human hosts. The species that make [...]

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Department of Integrative Biology
Faculty Position in Experimental Population Genetics
Position ID #1213
The Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, is seeking a scientist for a tenure-track position (Assistant Professor) in experimental population genetics.We seek a colleague to join a department with a strong multidisciplinary emphasis and to help [...]

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So I was working on some sequences the other night using ClustalW, the online resource for editing and aligning sequences, when Patrick, my 10 year old come up and asked me what I was doing. He noticed all the interesting colors (as bases are colored in this program), and picked up on some of [...]

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The goal is this step is to ligate double stranded linkers to each end of the DNA fragments you created with restriction enzymes. The linkers provide PCR primer binding sites for subsequent steps.. It is a pretty cool idea!
1st step is to make the double stranded linkers.. This is easy. Simple mix equimolar [...]

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Tuesday 9/18/07
Step 2 of the protocol calls for a restriction enzyme digest of genomic DNA. The idea is to chop up DNA into pieces small enough so that they can be easily cloned, but large enough to have a good chance of having a microsatellite AND enough flanking sequence to allow for primer development.
The authors [...]

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Welcome to the 88th edition of the Tangled Bank, the best and longest running science blog-carnival out there. For the newbies, we blog about science, casting a wide net over the physical, social, and life sciences. Anybody is welcome to submit, so long as it is about science. This weeks posts come from as [...]

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Is anybody using this? Can you send me a protocol? macmanes #at# gmail -dot- com. ScienceDaily says it’s “quicker and cheaper“.

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