Population and Conservation Genetics

Genetic data are increasingly used in areas such as anthropology, conservation biology, ecology and evolutionary biology. These data are used to address issues related to the demographic history of populations and species. This includes the detection, quantification, and dating of population collapses, expansions, or admixture processes, using neutral markers and the identification of markers under selection. Our group is interested in developing new and using/testing existing methods to uncover such events for a wide range of species. The aim is to understand the recent evolutionary history of these species and the limits of genetic data as inferential tools. Applications go from human evolution (e.g. the Neolithic transition in Europe) to conservation genetics of wild (e.g. orang-utans, lemurs) and domesticated species (e.g. cattle, sheep).