Speaker: Will Hemstrom, Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis

Topic: Should I stay or should I go: The genetics of migration vs residency in Australian and Pacific Monarch Butterflies, Steelhead, and Masu salmon

While the threats to species persistence posed by global changes in ecosystems are pervasive, migratory species in particular are acutely at risk due to their dependence on multiple disjointed ecosystems and de-synchronized environmental cues. This has prompted concerns that migration may go "quasi-extinct" in partially migratory species as selection pressures may increasingly favor resident life-histories over migration. Understanding how migration and residency are controlled by genetic and environmental factors may help us better understand the capacity of species to conserve their migratory capabilities even if populations shift towards residency. Australian Monarch butterflies have done just this: after hundreds of generations of residency, populations in Southern Australia have re-aquired migration. Here, we present our work to uncover the genetic mechanism by which they did so in contrast to previous findings in steelhead and our ongoing work in masu salmon.