High School interns from the Conservation Connection Foundation (CCF) have had their hands full the past few months. Working with scientists from the American Museum of Natural History and Stanford University, these students have used whole genome sequences to estimate who different dragonflies and damselflies have responded to climate change in the past and generated a genome assembly for a local dragonfly species, the Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis).
By analyzing the genomes of a European damselfly species, an American damselfly species, and a European damselfly, CCF interns discovered that these species will likely remain stable as the climate changes. Identifying which species are not threatened allows for a more efficient allocation of resources for species that are. These results have been published in the peer reviewed International Journal of Odonatology. The students also sequenced and analyzed the genome assembly of the Blue Dasher dragonfly, producing one of the highest quality genome assemblies ever created! Researchers were then able to use this genome to identify adaptations that have allowed the Blue Dasher to be so successful in the urban environment of Boise. This manuscript has been posted on the preprint server “bioarxiv” and is under review at the journal Gigascience. Participating students are authors on both papers.
“Seeing students as authors on these peer reviewed papers is the best Christmas present I could ask for!” said CCF founder and executive director, Dick Jordan. One of the participating students described the projects as “a big task to accomplish… (but) I still learned a lot and it allowed me to gain a much more hands-on learning experience.”
“These students are really laying the groundwork for future conservation and genomics work in dragonflies and damselflies,” said Ethan Tolman, a PhD student at the American Museum of Natural History and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. He continued, “given the quality of the Blue Dasher genome assembly in particular, I believe it will be used for years to come, and this would not have been possible without the work of local high school students.”
ABOUT
For much of the history of conservation biology, a major bottleneck has been a lack of data. In many instances, this is no longer the case. Whole genome sequences are (the entire DNA sequence for an individual) are incredibly useful and versatile tools in conservation biology, yet the number of genomes being produced is outpacing the number of scientists who can analyze them in a conservation context. A major aim of Conservation Connection Foundation is to close this gap by providing high school and undergraduate students opportunities to work with genomic data. This work will raise a new generation of conservation oriented data scientists. We prioritize providing opportunities to historically underserved communities in STEM and first-generation college students, as research experience is known to increase STEM retention in both of these groups.
