Gabriela Ibarguchi
WORK • RESEARCH SECTIONS

Inhospitable environments on Earth such as polar lakes under the ice versus hot volcanic vents in the deep sea harbour specialists with more similar adaptations than previously thought; coping with extended darkness and pressure or using other means for primary production not dependent on light (photosynthesis) may produce convergent but independent responses to these similar challenges. Remarkable genetic relationships are being uncovered among lineages occupying similar environmental conditions but separated by thousands of kilometers (dispersal or recent common ancestry and vicariance?). Adaptations to harsh environments are often overlooked in many studies but may have important implications on the interpretation of data (for example, the use of selectively 'neutral' loci in studies of population genetics, phylogeography and the evolution of taxa).

Research themes and projects:

• Ecological, morphological, behavioural, physiological and genetic adaptations to challenging conditions including cold, drought, wind, high altitude, and others
  
• Studies of biodiversity in mountains, Arctic, Antarctic, steppe and desert, marine, and other environments
  
• Projects:
  • Species in harsh environments - development of dedicated research program and lab (BHE)
    
  • Arctic - on-going studies of polar taxa (seabirds including thick-billed murres); biodiversity monitoring (see ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES - CBMP)
    
  • Antarctica - evolution of cold-hardy lineages (biogeography; Andean taxa; waterbirds; seedsnipes)
    
  • Mountains - genetic, physiological and morphological adaptations to high altitude (hemoglobin evolution, selection; Andean lineages; UV and genetics; seedsnipes); mountains as centres of speciation
    
  • Aridlands - ecology and evolution of complex breeding systems (birds: tinamous; seedsnipes); morphology
    
  • Caves - adaptations to hypoxia
  • Wind and cold - the effects of climatic variables on morphology

Complementing field-based behavioural and breeding studies with genetic tools and ancient DNA methodology (wildlife forensics: egg fragments, degraded samples, museum specimens, carcasses and droppings) have provided insight into reproduction (seabirds) and complex breeding systems in birds (Tinamidae, Thinocoridae). Genetic tools have been crucial in parentage analyses and kinship studies to identify fine-scale local processes including cryptic mate selection, philopatry, within-population structuring, and migration. Behaviour and breeding studies include collaborative investigations of diet, reproductive success, morphology, sexual-size dimorphism, analyses of spatial patterns, environment, and ecogeographic variables. Pilot studies include stable isotope analyses to complement studies of migration.

Research themes and projects:

• Long term behavioural and genetic studies in in seabirds (murres):
  • Parentage, adoption and alloparenting behaviour
  • Male-biased mutation rates and statistical models for detecting mutations and null alleles
  • Within-colony structuring and kinship studies (genetics and morphology)
  • Collaborative studies with Environment Canada: diet, reproduction, chick growth, diving, long-term demographics
    
    
• Investigation of unusual mating systems
• Seedsnipes (Thinocoridae): field-based behavioural studies and genetic analyses reveal that complex systems may exist
• Collaborator: Genetic and behavioural studies of the mating system of the elegant-crested tinamou (Eudromia elegans)
  
  
• The evolution of sociality and kin selection
  • Lace bug, Gargaphia tiliae: females defend their eggs from predators and conspecifics, and some may parasitise other nests. Kinship (genetic relatedness) and the degree of population structuring was investigated to gain insight into the evolution of helping behaviour (please contact me for pdf).
  • Family groups in thick-billed murres in Arctic Canada; studies confirm that kin groups may exist in seabird colonies and support earlier studies from Norway.
    
    
• Migration:
  • Seedsnipes: genetics, stable isotope analyses, and morphology (Bolivia)
  • Assistant: 4th international shorebird banding campaign with focus on Red Knot populations (Calidris canutus) in the wintering grounds (Tierra del Fuego)
  • Banding studies: seedsnipes and murres
    
    
• Aquatic ecology:
• Community ecology, habitat and water quality in urban-rural transects in Ontario; aquatic insects (morphology, ecology and genetics)
  
  
• Other field-based studies:
  
• Field assistant in studies of the Andean treefrog Hypsiboas andinus
• Field assistant in studies of five-lined skinks (Eumeces fasciatus) in Ontario

Biogeographic studies are multidisciplinary in nature, from investigating the processes that have resulted in the current distributions of species, to understanding how distributions may change in the future from disturbance, climate change, and novel arrangements and diversity of taxa across landscapes and ecosystems. Studies include investigating how morphology may be influenced by ecogeographic variables, identifying regions where high endemism and genetic diversity exist, and studying centres of diversification. Evolution, ecology, conservation biology, environmental sciences, geology and studies of paleoenvironments and climates are important components of biogeographic studies.

Research themes and projects:

• Biogeography, endemism and diversification
  • The Andes: review of the orogenic history of the Andes, the role of new alpine niches and the creation of barriers in promoting speciation; investigation of areas of endemism, and biogeographic evidence complementing geological history of uplift.
    
    
  • Studies of true Antarctic lineages which survived cooling (< 30 Ma), and Antarctic contributions to the global biota (polar, deepsea, alpine, and other cold environments around the world)
    
    
  • Antarctica and its mountains: studies of the important role of ranges within Antarctica prior to final Gondwana break-up in promoting the early diversification of lineages now on the continent and elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere
    
    
  • Studies of biodiversity in harsh environments: their history, endemism, and current or future threats
    
    
• Refuges past and present
  • Studies of the role of refuges in facilitating the conservation of lineages and genetic diversity through time, serving both as spatial and temporal bridges; to explore their role in the diversification of lineages
    
    
• Modeling
  • Novel approach to quantify the barrier effect of mountain chains on the diversification of populations (ecological equivalence distance)
    
    
• Phylogeography and phylogenetics
• The seedsnipes: studies of the centres of diversification and colonisation routes of lineages; landscape genetics; genetic surveys
• Studies of puzzling disjunct distributions
  
  
• Morphology
• Studies of gradients in morphology across the landscape and in response to ecogeographic variables (Thinocoridae)

Research themes and projects:

• Philopatry, population genetics and differentiation: Arctic seabirds
  • Studies of family groups and morphological clustering in colonial cliff-nesting arctic seabirds, thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia, Alcidae); within-colony diversification (link)
    
  • Assessment of social versus genetic family groups in murres; extra-pair paternity; adoption
    
  • Fostering, parent-chick recognition, and genetic relatedness in murres
    
    
• Phylogeography and phylogenetics
  • The seedsnipes: studies of the centres of diversification and colonisation routes of lineages; landscape genetics; genetic surveys
  • Studies of puzzling disjunct distributions
  
  
• Within-population and fine-scale genetic structure
  • Studies of thick-billed murres in Arctic Canada
  • Kinship, within- and among-population studies of the lace bug, Gargaphia tiliae
  • Collaborator: Genetic surveys of aquatic insects in Ontario freshwater habitats and the St. Lawrence River
    
    
• Conservation and population genetics:
• Collaborator: Genetic study of guillemot populations (Cephus, Alcidae) affected by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
  
• Collaborator: Population genetic studies for the conservation of marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus)
• Collaborator: Genetic sexing to complement breeding studies of black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla)
• Collaborator: Protocol optimisation and preliminary screening of samples for phylogeography and population genetic studies of band-rumped petrel (Oceanodroma castro)
  
• Collaborator: Protocol optimisation for population genetic and parentage studies of loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus)
  

Research themes and projects:

• Systematics of basal Neotropical Birds: Cracidae
  • The family Cracidae (cracids, guans, chachalacas) is among the oldest lineages of modern birds, along with waterfowl and galliform relatives. This pilot study provided some of the earliest genetic data to resolve the relationships among representatives of cracid lineages. (Report available here; Queen's University and Canadian Museum of Nature)
    
    
• Systematics: family Thinocoridae
• Through comprehensive sampling throughout the range of seedsnipes and complementary studies of museum specimens, systematic studies based on morphology and genetics are revealing that cryptic diversity may exist in at least two species.

• Non-neutral evolution in genetic markers
  • At the extremes of a species range, or in challenging environments, genetic markers frequently used may in fact evolve under distinct conditions in non-neutral patterns. As changes in coding regions may be subtle (only a small number of sites), traditional tests for selection may lack enough power. Alternative approaches include comparative genetics/genomics of taxa in similar environments.
    
    
• Selection in harsh environments
• Hemoglobins: evolution in high altitude environments (seedsnipes: collaboration with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks), cold habitats, and low oxygen conditions (diving species, caves)
• Mitochondrial DNA in challenging environments
• UV radiation: genome-wide evolution and comparative genetics

Protocol development, novel tools, and new approaches are often required in research of understudied species and their environments. Applications in a diversity of fields from behavioural ecology to conservation genetics and biogeography include novel methods in DNA preparation and analysis, statistical approaches and modeling, and spatial applications.

Research themes and projects:

• Heredity, mutations, and methods for distinguishing anomalies in genetic studies
  • Investigation of parentage assignment, the male-bias mutation rate and its implications for erroneously excluding true fathers in parentage studies; statistical methods for circumventing this problem
    
    
  • Protocols for use in wildlife studies, from insects to mammals, where ambiguous results may be due to hybridization between lineages, mitochondrial DNA recombination, heteroplasmy or multiple copies of genes, or nuclear homologs.
    
    
• Methodology for ecological and genetic studies
  • Development of ancient DNA methods including optimised PCR techniques for studies of phylogeography, population genetics and diversification of lineages where degraded tissues or museum specimens are utilised
    
    
  • Protocol development for pilot studies of species where current methods cannot be adapted or are not available (for example, the use of RAMPS 'fingerprinting' for taxonomic groups where microsatellites have not been developed)
    
    
  • Optimisation of techniques for less destructive field sampling for DNA studies (for example, using unconventional DNA sources such as bird fecal samples, eggs, or material from old nests, predator dens, or kill sites)
    
    
• Spatial and ecological modeling
  • Novel approach to quantify the effect of mountain barriers on genetic or morphological distance among populations
  • Investigating the effect of ecogeographic variables on morphology
    
    
• Other research contributions
• Protocol optimisation and preliminary screening of samples for phylogeography and population genetic studies of band-rumped petrel (Oceanodroma castro)
  
• Protocol optimisation for population genetic and parentage studies of loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus)
• Optimisation of methods for genetic sexing of birds

Research themes and projects include the following groups:

• Shorebird family Thinocoridae, the seedsnipes, endemic to cold regions in the Andes, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (link)
  • Biogeography and diversification of seedsnipes out of Antarctica and into de Andes Mountains
    
  • Analyses of morphological gradients, adaptations to cold, and subspecies designations in Thinocoridae based on morphology and genetics
    
  • Comparison of hemoglobins from lowland, highlands, and cold regions to investigate adaptations to anoxia and extreme environments
    
    
    
• Arctic seabirds: thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia, Alcidae)
  • Reproductive success, parentage, alloparenting and behaviour
  • Kinship, within-colony genetic structuring, population genetics
  • Morphology and adaptation to diving and arctic environments
  • Collaborative long-term studies on reproductive success, population dynamics, diet, and movement
    
    
• Phylogeography and conservation genetics of seabirds
  • Collaborative studies of pigeon guillemot (Oceanodroma castro) populations affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill
    
  • Optimised protocols and sample screening in collaborative studies of band-rumped petrels (Oceanodroma castro), marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus), and black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla; genetic sexing)
  • Protocol development for collaborative studies of loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus)
    
    
• Neotropical birds
  • Systematics of basal Neotropical Birds: Cracidae
• A pilot study provided some of the earliest genetic data to resolve relationships among representatives of cracid lineages (cracids, guans, chachalacas), provided evidence of unexpected relationships among divergent groups, and suggested that cracids were an ancient lineage that predated the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Report available here (for the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa).
• Collaborative studies of breeding systems and ecology of Tinamidae: the elegant-crested tinamou (Eudromia elegans)(studies in collaboration with Graeme Gissing)
• Tinamous are among the oldest lineages of modern birds, and complex breeding systems have been described including unusual polygynandry
• Natural history studies: habitat quality, predation, diet, and behaviour
  
  
• Migration
• Pilot study on the use of stable isotopes, genetics and morphology to distinguish migrant versus resident high altitude populations of seedsnipes
• Red knots (Calidris canutus): Field participant in the 4th international shorebird banding campaign in the wintering grounds (Tierra del Fuego)
  

Research themes and projects:

• The evolution of sociality and kin selection
  • In the lace bug, Gargaphia tiliae, females guard and defend their eggs from predators and conspecifics, and some may lay eggs in other female's nest. Kinship (genetic relatedness) and the degree of population structuring was investigated to gain insight into the evolution of helping behaviour in this species.
    
    
• Population and regional genetic structure
  • Aquatic invertebrate populations in Ontario and the St. Lawrence River
    
    
• Biomonitoring: water quality in rural-urban transects
  • Sediment coring, species surveys of aquatic invertebrate communities and water chemistry: species indicators of habitat quality

Research themes and projects:

• Biomonitoring: water quality along urban-rural transects (see above: INVERTEBRATES)
  
  
• Climate change and refugia: population history and future change (see above: BIOGEOGRAPHY - Refuges past and present)
  
  
• Pollutants in cold regions (pilot project)
  • The presence of toxins and pollutants in remote cold environments including high latitudes and altitudes has been linked to sources in warmer regions of the world (evaporation from sources in warm regions, transportation and cold condensation; Blais et al. 1998). Pilot studies may reveal whether contaminants may influence avian populations that may be in decline in the Southern Andes based on anecdotal information (parks personnel) and observations of egg breakage.
    
    
• Long-term monitoring of Arctic terrestrial biodiversity
  • Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program - CBMP: Terrestrial Expert Monitoring Group (TEGM), Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, Arctic Council

Ecosystem health: healthy environments, communities and populations

Recent programs and projects:

• Physical activity, nutrition and chronic disease: international development
  • CAMBIO Program - Canada & Mexico Battling Childhood Obesity (2007-2011: Archived site; IDRC site)
  • Knowledge networks: Red Mexicana para el Combate a la Obesidad (OBESIRED: www.obesired.mx)
    
    
• Human genetics and abnormal behaviour
  • Collaborative studies: psychopathy and genetics