Eastern Screech Owl Population Genomics

The Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) has a widespread distribution across the eastern United States. Its range extends as far west as the Rockies, as far north as Ontario, and as far south as the Coahuila Valley. There are a myriad of named subspecies, originally determined through minute differential morphometrics. The current recognized subspecies are the result of decades of conflation and separation of these original designations as we learn more about what makes these populations distinct. Only one study (Proudfoot 2007) looked into the genetics of the system, using mitochondrial DNA methods.

This project represents the first attempt at high-throughput genomic sequencing for the species. We used ddRAD-seq with reference genome alignment to analyze 228 frozen tissue samples from museums and institutions across the country.