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Ann ChangDegrees:B.A. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley |
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I am interested in identifying mechanisms (behavioral, environmental, allelic, etc.) that promote hybridization between recently diverged species and the implications these hybridization events have on conservation efforts. However, my long-term goal is to find genetic patterns that will identify natural verses anthropogenic hybridization events so that conservationist can quickly assess the need for conservation efforts for populations of endangered/threatened animals. I am currently working on two projects that revolve around hybridization in Californian Species of Special Concern, the Western Spadefoot, Spea hammondii, and two species of Red-Legged frogs, Rana aurora and Rana draytonii. Through previous work in the Shaffer Lab I identified a hybridization event that happened in the relatively distant past between Southern California S. hammondii and the Great Basin Spadefoot, Spea intermontana. To identify any changes in habitat requirements this hybridization event may have caused in S. hammondii, I will be studying the upland habitat use of Northern California S. hammondii at Mather Regional Park in Rancho Cordova, CA. I will then repeat and compare my upland habitat experiments with Southern California S. hammondii, and Californian S. intermontana. My second project involves identifying the boundaries of a hybrid zone between two species of Red-Legged frogs, Rana aurora and Rana draytonii. Once this hybrid zone is defined I will then look for mechanisms that promote hybridization between these species. In doing so I hope to identify whether this hybridization event is natural or caused by human impacts on the habitat. Both of these projects will have impacts on recovery plans and policy involving these species. Additionally these projects can be combined with other datasets produced by both our lab and other labs to help identify patterns of hybridization in vertebrates. |
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