Genetics, Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation of Carnivores

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Evolution combined with conservation

Studies ranging from the phylogeny of wild animals to microbial communities in bromeliads of the Atlantic Forest comprise the breadth of the activities of the Research Group on Genetics, Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation of Carnivores, led by Professor Eduardo Eizirik. The results have been published in leading international journals, including Nature and Science.

The relationship between evolutionary biology and conservation biology is one of the group’s foci, and the most active research line consists of studies on the genetics, genomics, and ecology of wild carnivores. Currently, the main global conservation strategies for jaguars use genetic data from the group, which is also an international leader on studies of several other carnivore species.

Research on the higher-level phylogeny of mammals is performed by the group in partnership with teams from other countries. The findings have been reported in journals such as Nature, Science, and PNAS, and redefined mammal evolution on a global scale.

The group, in collaboration with researchers from the USA, was a pioneer in the discovery of the genes that control the coat colors of domestic and wild cats. Several coat color genes were discovered and their function and evolution characterized, resulting in articles featured on the covers of the journals Current Biology and Genetics, as well as a recent article published in Science.

The team also leads multidisciplinary efforts targeting the molecular identification of biodiversity, including the Brazilian network of DNA barcodes and metagenomic projects in partnership with the Institute of the Environment and of Natural Resources of PUCRS.

The group maintains scientific cooperation with several international institutions, especially in the USA, in particular with the University of California, Texas A&M University, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology.