Rock Ptarmigan Ecogenomics

PH.D. PROJECT

About the project

This PhD project in ecological genomics is part of a larger ongoing Rannís funded project. It focuses on demographic fluctuations in the Icelandic Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) population. With thousands of birds collected by the Icelandic Institute of Natural History at the government‘s direction between 2006 and 2018, a massive amount of data is available for analysis on this wild bird. While previous researchers have investigated ptarmigan parasites, diet changes, and body condition, the PhD project utilizes increasingly available genetic resouces to clarify the relationship between the population‘s genomic condition and Iceland‘s changing environment. Production of a new reference genome has allowed for comparison of regional populations of Rock Ptarmigan from around the north Atlantic and a better understanding of how Icelandic birds are locally adapted to climatic conditions. Going forward the project seeks to understand how evolutionary processes like balancing selection have acted on these birds in both short and long timescales to ensure their continued survival. 

Doctoral Candidate

Thedore E. Squires, University of Akureyri and Uppsala University – PhD candidate

Doctoral committee and Researchers

  • Kristinn Pétur Magnússon, Professor of molecular genetics, Faculty of Resource Sciences, University of Akureyri and specialist at Icelandic Institute of Natural History – main supervisor
  • Jacob Höglund, Professor at University of Uppsala, Sweden - supervisor
  • Eva Charlotte Halapi, Associate professor at University of Akureyri - supervisor
  • Jennifer S. Forbey, Professor at Boise State University, Idaho, USA - supervisor
  • Snæbjörn Pálsson, Professor at University of Iceland - supervisor

Collaborators

Publications

Squires TE, Rödin-Mörch P, Formenti G, Tracey A, Abueg L, Brajuka N, Jarvis E, Halapi EC, Melsted P, Höglund J, Magnússon. (2023). Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly for the Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 13(7): jkad099, https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkad099

Sveinsdóttir M, Magnússon KP. (2017). Complete mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic analysis of willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) and rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) (Galliformes: Phasianidae: Tetraoninae), Mitochondrial DNA Part B, 2:2, 400-402, DOI: 10.1080/23802359.2017.1347834

Kozma R, Melsted P, Magnússon KP, Höglund J. Looking into the past - the reaction of three grouse species to climate change over the last million years using whole genome sequences. Molecular Ecolology 2016 Jan;25(2):570-80. doi: 10.1111/mec.13496. Epub 2016 Jan 19. PMID: 26607571.