Laura Bertola |
Special Matters Committee, Genetics Group
|
City University of New York
Postdoctoral Researcher |
I'm interested in how the rapidly developing field of genomics can contribute to the field of conservation biology. During my PhD I applied various genetic techniques to gain insight into the distribution of genetic diversity in the lion. These data provide a rational basis for prioritizing populations for conservation efforts, but also give insight into evolutionary drivers which may have contributed to the current genetic make-up.
During my PhD, we have explored different sources of DNA e.g. by non-invasively collecting hair and scat samples and by using ancient DNA (aDNA) approaches for specimens in natural history collections. I've also worked on metabarcoding and environmental DNA (eDNA), both for studying diet composition and for monitoring community composition. In my current project we integrate habitat and climate data with genomic data from co-distributed species. Hereby we aim to identify genomic regions under putative adaptive selection driven by climactic differences. We are also applying in house SNP genotyping based on whole genome data from lions from across their entire geographic range, to answer management questions on a more local scale. We currently apply this technique for informing national lion conservation strategies, and for creating a studbook for captive lions in European Zoos (in collaboration with EAZA). |
Publications
Bertola LD, Vrieling K and de Iongh HH. (2011) Conservation Genetics of the African Lion. Waza news 3(11):2-4. Research Gate
Cho YS, Hu L, Hou H, Lee H, Xu J, Kwon S, Oh S, Kim HM, Jho S, Kim S, Shin YA, Kim BC, Kim H, Kim C, Luo SJ, Johnson WE, Koepfli KP, Schmidt-Kuntzel A, Turner JA, Marker L, Harper C, Miller SM, Jacobs W, Bertola LD, Kim TH, Lee S, Zhou Q, Jung HJ, Xu X, Gadhvi P, Xu P, Xiong Y, Luo Y, Pan P, Gou C, Chu X, Zhang J, Liu S, He J, Chen Y, Yang L, Yang Y, He J, Liu S, Wang J, Kim CH, Kwak H, Kim JS, Hwang S, Ko J, Kim CB, Kim S, Bayarlkhagva D, Paek WK, Kim SJ, O'Brien SJ, Wang J, and Bhak J. (2013) The tiger genome and comprarative analysis with lion and snow leopard genomes. Nature Communications 4:2433. DOI:10.1038/ncomms3433
Bertola LD, Tensen L, van Hooft P, White PA, Driscoll CA, Henschel P, Caragiulo A, Dias-Freedman I, Sogbohossou EA, Tumenta PN, Jirmo TH, de Snoo GR, de Iongh HH and Vrieling K. (2015) Autosomal and mtDNA Markers Affirm the Distinctiveness of Lions in West and Central Africa. PLoS One 10(10):e0137975. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0137975
Bertola LD, Jongbloed H, Van Der Gaag KJ, De Knijff P, Yamaguchi N, Hooghiemstra H, Bauer H, Henschel P, White PA, Driscoll CA, Tende T, Ottosson U, Saidu Y, Vrieling K, De Iongh HH. (2016) Phylogeographic Patterns in Africa and High Resolution Delineation of Genetic Clades in the Lion (Panthera leo). Nature Publishing Group 6:30807. DOI:10.1038/srep30807
Cho YS, Hu L, Hou H, Lee H, Xu J, Kwon S, Oh S, Kim HM, Jho S, Kim S, Shin YA, Kim BC, Kim H, Kim C, Luo SJ, Johnson WE, Koepfli KP, Schmidt-Kuntzel A, Turner JA, Marker L, Harper C, Miller SM, Jacobs W, Bertola LD, Kim TH, Lee S, Zhou Q, Jung HJ, Xu X, Gadhvi P, Xu P, Xiong Y, Luo Y, Pan P, Gou C, Chu X, Zhang J, Liu S, He J, Chen Y, Yang L, Yang Y, He J, Liu S, Wang J, Kim CH, Kwak H, Kim JS, Hwang S, Ko J, Kim CB, Kim S, Bayarlkhagva D, Paek WK, Kim SJ, O'Brien SJ, Wang J, and Bhak J. (2013) The tiger genome and comprarative analysis with lion and snow leopard genomes. Nature Communications 4:2433. DOI:10.1038/ncomms3433
Bertola LD, Tensen L, van Hooft P, White PA, Driscoll CA, Henschel P, Caragiulo A, Dias-Freedman I, Sogbohossou EA, Tumenta PN, Jirmo TH, de Snoo GR, de Iongh HH and Vrieling K. (2015) Autosomal and mtDNA Markers Affirm the Distinctiveness of Lions in West and Central Africa. PLoS One 10(10):e0137975. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0137975
Bertola LD, Jongbloed H, Van Der Gaag KJ, De Knijff P, Yamaguchi N, Hooghiemstra H, Bauer H, Henschel P, White PA, Driscoll CA, Tende T, Ottosson U, Saidu Y, Vrieling K, De Iongh HH. (2016) Phylogeographic Patterns in Africa and High Resolution Delineation of Genetic Clades in the Lion (Panthera leo). Nature Publishing Group 6:30807. DOI:10.1038/srep30807
