Joint publication of Max Planck and iDiv scientists: Scarce data on the geographical origin of DNA ...
Max Planck and iDiv scientists discussing at collaboration workshop
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To what extent do species in a regional assemblage share long-term demographic trends? How much do local and regional communities represent stable entities through time and space? Answers to these questions could emerge from a comparative analysis of the spatial distribution of genetic diversity using georeferenced DNA data. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) joined in an interdisplinary project to quantify the amount of georeferenced DNA data available. They conclude that such data is still scarce and has not increased in the past years. They particularly identify a strong underrepresentation of hard-to-access areas, e.g. in the Tropics. The scientists propose a way of reducing the uncertainties associated with the limited geographical information.
The results are published in the current issue of “Journal of Biogeography”. Authors from MPI-EVA and iDiv are Paolo Gratton (MPI-EVA), Gaëlle Bocksberger (MPI-EVA), Marten Winter (iDiv) and Hjalmar Kühl (iDiv, MPI-EVA).
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.12786/full
