Past Events

Breeding programmes are key for managing and improving populations in agriculture, wild, or captivity. This hybrid unique course shows how to use the latest research to design a new, or upgrade an existing, breeding programme using (big-)data and data science. It achieves this by first, introducing the basic principles of modelling breeding programmes and basic usage of R (highly transferable skills), particularly the package AlphaSimR (available at CRAN https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/AlphaSimR/index.html). Secondly, the accompanying online material showcases real life case studies of using AlphaSimR to effectively model breeding programmes for livestock, crop, insect and managed wild or captive populations. Particular attention will be given to model how Ne changes according to different breeding programmes.

In order to prevent further decline and local extinctions of plant and animal species, reintroductions, supplementations and translocations are increasingly applied in nature conservation. However, with varying success. The reason for this may be linked to genetic processes, which are often not fully considered in restoration practices. In this workshop, we aim to bring together conservation biologists, practitioners and policy makers to highlight and discuss the importance of genetic considerations in conservation and restoration. In four short presentations by experts in the field, successes and failures of current reintroductions and supplementations will be showcased. These will be discussed in the light of our current knowledge of genetic processes and the (lack of) use of this knowledge.

The goal of this workshop is to refine and apply methods to test an effective population size-based indicator for genetic diversity, developed for application under the CBD post-2020 framework first proposed by Hoban et al (2020) in Figure 1 of https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108654. This indicator is: (“The number of populations within a species with an effective population size (Ne) above 500 compared to the number below 500”. We aim to develop standard protocols for applying molecular Ne estimators, assessing 1) which methods are most robust, and 2) how to use the results to determine a consensus Ne estimate for species of conservation concern for diverse European taxa. We aim to focus on widely distributed species (animal and plant) where estimates of census population size are also available. The workshop will be attended by members of G-Bike working group 2, successful STSM applicants who will be working on this problem for up to a three-month period and additional invited individuals who have been participating in this research area.

It is our great pleasure to announce that the 4th Management Committee and Working Group meetings of the G-BiKE COST Action will be held in the geographical centre of Europe, in Prague, Czech Republic. The organizers will make every effort to make your visit a pleasant and hopefully a memorable one. The meetings will take place in the Vila Lanna, a representative meeting place of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Akademie věd České republiky), located close to the heart of the old Prague city. In order to enlarge participation the meeting will be in hybrid mode.