PhD Students

Praveen Ravindran

Dalhousie University

I am Praveen Nadukkalam Ravindran , a PhD student in the Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie university. I am supervised by Dr. Robert G. Beiko (FCS, Dalhousie) and Dr. Ian R. Bradbury (DFO) . My project  aims at building algorithms for effective assembly of de novo  loci and population genetics inferences from RAD-seq data. We have built  a parameter search module to identify the best set of parameter values for the ustacks program provided by STACKS, a widely used pipeline for processing restriction-enzyme based DNA sequence data. As part of the project, a noval method using sequence similarity is also developed for identifying paralogous sequences from the de novo assembled loci. Currently, I am focussing on developing methods for faster processing of these RAD-seq data with much reduced computational requirements, enabling effective analyses of such data  with limited resources.

Masters Students

Beth Watson

Biology Department, Dalhousie University

As a MSc student, co-supervised by Dr. Ian Bradbury and Dr. Paul Bentzen, my research will focus on improving understanding of indirect genetic impacts of wild-farm interactions. Indirect genetic impacts may led to reduced population size, increased genetic drift, and/or lowered adaptive capacity. Small populations or populations experiencing declines in abundance may be more susceptible to these genetic impacts than large, stable populations. To enable quantification of future impacts, a genomic baseline for wild Atlantic salmon populations within Placentia Bay, Newfoundland will be generated, effective population size of wild populations will be estimated, and genomic tools for the identification of Norwegian farm escapees and hybrids will be developed. Through this project I will also explore the power of large genomic datasets to detect changes in the character and abundance of wild populations differing in size over various periods of time using simulation studies.

Ben Perriman

Biology Department, Dalhousie University

 I am a MSc student co-supervised by Dr. Ian Bradbury and Dr. Paul Bentzen. My research is to determine the direct impacts of aquaculture salmon escapes breeding with wild salmon populations. One method I am using is measuring changes in body shape using geometric morphometrics of different pure and hybrid groups identified using diagnostic with single nucleotide polymorphism panels. Using the shape and genomic data allows the comparison of shape differences between levels of hybridization and introgression. Measuring shape change with between wild, farm, and hybrid salmon is a means of measuring fitness; this will aid in efforts to understand, and monitor the ongoing impact of salmon aquaculture on wild salmon populations in the Northwest Atlantic.

Samantha Crowley

Department of Ocean Sciences, Memorial University

I am a MSc student co-supervised by Dr. Ian Fleming and Dr. Ian Bradbury. One part of my research will look at the differences in survival between farm, wild, and hybrid Atlantic salmon of North American origin at the juvenile stage. I will use data from a field experiment in Garnish River, Newfoundland to compare the survival rates of four groups of juvenile salmon: wild (Garnish River origin), farmed (Saint John River strain), and two hybrid groups formed from crosses of farmed males by wild females, and vice versa. While the strain of farmed fish currently used in Atlantic Canada is of North American origin, the aquaculture industry in Newfoundland has expressed interest in using farmed fish of European origin. To contribute to a better understanding of the potential impacts of using European-origin salmon in Newfoundland, I will also be looking at whether European farm x North American wild hybrids have the potential to produce viable offspring with North American wild fish, and if so, what the survival rates of these backcross offspring are in the egg and juvenile stages.

Undergraduate Students

There are currently no undergraduate students in the lab.