Bruce  Deagle, Post-Doc
email: bdeagle@uvic.ca

The focus of my research has been using information in DNA to address ecological and evolutionary questions. My PhD thesis looked at methods to study the diet of large marine predators by analysing prey DNA in their faeces. In August 2008 I switched gears and started a stickleback evolutionary genetics project in Tom Reimchen’s laboratory, we will be working in close collaboration with David Kingsley’s group at Stanford University.

Postdoctoral work: SNP variation in Haida Gwaii threespine stickleback   

  

            Studies of Haida Gwaii stickleback over the last 35 years have documented a remarkable level of morphological variation among freshwater populations. These populations have been the focus of numerous evolutionary investigations and provide a textbook example of adaptive morphological evolution (see Reimchen publications). In this postdoctoral project we will obtain a genomic perspective of the genetic structure and history of these stickleback using a genome-wide SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) genotyping system developed at Stanford.

PhD work at the University of Tasmania: DNA-based methods to study diet

Studying animal diet is a difficult undertaking especially in the marine environment where it is rarely possible to observe feeding activity. Some prey remains survive digestion and morphological analysis of remains in faecal material can provide an indication of what predators are eating. Analysis of stomach contents is also possible, but this involves invasive or lethal sampling. In my PhD I looked at the potential for use of DNA-based identification methods in dietary studies of marine predators. When I started it was clear that prey DNA was present in animal faeces but how useful it would be for dietary studies was an open question. So, in collaboration with researchers from the Marine Mammal Unit at UBC, I started by looking at samples collected from captive Steller sea lions to address some basic questions:

·       Can prey DNA be reliably detected in the soft matrix of faecal samples?

·       Can DNA from prey items fed as a small proportion of the diet be detected?

·       Are the relative amounts of DNA recovered from prey species proportional to their mass in the diet?

·       What is the quality of the prey DNA recovered?

These questions are the focus of three papers from my thesis:

Deagle BE, Tollit DJ, Jarman SN, Hindell MA, Trites AW, Gales NJ (2005) Molecular scatology as a tool to study diet: analysis of prey DNA in scats from captive Steller sea lions. Molecular Ecology 14: 1831–1842. (pdf)

Deagle BE, Eveson JP, Jarman SN (2006) Quantification of damage in DNA recovered from highly degraded samples — a case study on DNA in faeces. Frontiers in Zoology e3:11. (pdf)

Deagle BE, Tollit DJ (2007) Quantitative analysis of prey DNA in pinniped faeces: potential to estimate diet composition? Conservation Genetics 8: 743–747. (pdf)

The methods were further evaluated in a field-based study looking at the diet of macaroni penguins at Heard Island and most recently I have been involved in a DNA-based diet study of Australian fur seals in Bass Strait, southern Australia :

Deagle BE, Gales NJ, Evans K, Jarman SN, Robinson S, Trebilco R, Hindell MA (2007) Studying seabird diet through genetic analysis of faeces: a case study on macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus). PLoS ONE 2: e831. (pdf)

Deagle BE, Jarman SN, Kirkwood R (In prep.) Evaluating trophic links by pyrosequencing prey DNA in faeces: a population level dietary study on Australian fur seals

               

For my other papers, please see publication list.

Funding: