From genome to species assemblage
Basic and Frontier Science project CBF-2026-4124 (SECIHTI, 2026–2028), led by Dr. Fausto Valenzuela Quiñonez (CIBNOR), with researchers from CIBNOR, CICESE and UABCS.
“From genome to species assemblage: neutral, selective and functional evolutionary processes structuring biodiversity in marine environments”
Community ecology and evolutionary biology try to explain the same diversity patterns, but usually separately. This project tests how both levels are linked, using the cryptobenthic fishes of the Gulf of California as a model: small species tightly associated with their microhabitat, with low dispersal, and rarely detected by visual surveys.
The project combines:
- alpha and beta diversity of the fish assemblage from collections and environmental DNA;
- a mitogenome reference database for at least five of the most representative families in the assemblage (Apogonidae, Blenniidae, Chaenopsidae, Gobiidae, Labrisomidae, Tripterygiidae, among others), generated by low-coverage sequencing (genome skimming) to improve taxonomic assignment of environmental DNA;
- multi-species population genomics (ddRAD);
- whole genomes of selected species and transcriptomics to identify adaptive loci and their function.
I participate as a postdoctoral researcher in the environmental DNA, reference mitogenome and genomics components.