BECC AG: Genomic causes and consequences of inbreeding in natural and domesticated populations

The purpose of this action group is to launch an initiative within BECC that centres around the global loss of biodiversity and to what extent natural and domesticated populations will remain sustainable in light of increasing land-use demands from a growing human population and ongoing anthropogenic induced climate change.

We aim to close a knowledge gap related to the genomic effects and consequences of increasingly fragmented landscapes on natural and domesticated populations. Specifically, we aim to understanding how historical population demography and breeding designs will influence the viability of declining populations, and yield losses in economically important crops, in terms of loss of genomic variation and expression of the inbreeding load at different developmental stages.

We believe that our project covers one of BECC’s key challenge as we aim for improving the scientific basis for effective and biologically meaningful biodiversity conservation strategies. The project opens possibilities for BSc and MSc students to conduct their exam project using empirical, model or theoretical approaches or a combination thereof. To achieve societal impact, we will collaborate directly with local stakeholders, and aim for transferable results and conclusions regarding how to ensure sustainability of natural and domesticated populations.