During past decades, genomics and metagenomics have developed very fast, and are widely applied to non-model species especially wild animals to provide new insights to properly conserve the wildlife. The giant panda is not only the symbol of the world biodiversity conservation, but also a model to address questions of the evolutionary biology, especially the adaptive evolution to specialized bamboo diet. In this talk, I will address the population history, adaptive evolution to the bamboo diet from different aspects such morphology, behavior, ecology, physiology, genetics, genomics and metagenomics of gut microbiomes. Finally, I will talk about how these new findings will be benefit to the conservation and management of giant pandas.
About the speaker: Dr. Fuwen Wei holds a Bachelor Degree in Biology and Masters Degree in Zoology from China West Normal University, and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He has been working as a Principal Investigator in the Institute of Zoology, CAS and served as the Deputy Director of the Institute from 2008–2017. Dr. Wei received the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars from the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2001. He was elected as an Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017, an Academician of The World Academy of Sciences in 2018, and an Academician of Academia Europaea in 2021. He won the CAS Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Award in 2018 and the China Natural Science Award in 2019.
Dr. Wei's research has focused on conservation biology and molecular ecology of endangered animals, and he is a pioneer in the conservation genomics and metagenomics of endangered animals. He has applied genetic and genomic techniques to assess the evolutionary past, present and future of giant panda populations; infer the processes and causes that threaten them; reveal their adaptive mechanisms to specialized bamboo diet; and propose science-based conservation strategies for their long-term survival. His research offers a framework for endangered animal study.
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The David Bradford Energy and Environmental Policy Seminar Series is coordinated by the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE), and co-sponsored by the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI). This seminar is also co-sponsored by the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
This in-person event is open to the public. Princeton University community members do not need to RSVP. Members of the general public should RSVP to ccrosby@princeton.edu and will be accommodated as space allows.
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