Fred Allendorf ( edit )

B.S. Penn State University, 1971
M.S. University of Washington, 1973
Ph.D. University of Washington, 1975
Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Aarhus University, 1975-1976
NATO Research Fellow, University of Nottingham, 1978-1979
 

My general research interests are in the areas of evolution, population genetics, and conservation biology.  The primary current focus of my research is the application of genetics to the conservation of animals and plants.  We in the Montana Conservation Genetics Laboratory are active in applying the principles of population and evolutionary genetics to the conservation of salmonid fishes and a variety of other species. We are using molecular genetics to describe intraspecific patterns of genetic variation and phylogenetic relationships in many of these species. In addition, we are developing the theory and statistical analysis needed to apply the principles of population genetics to conservation problems. This is being done in association with my colleague Gordon Luikart.  We have written a conservation genetics book (Conservation and the Genetics of Populations) which has recently been published by Wiley-Blackwell.

Mike Schwartz (US Forest Service) and I are co-PIs of a Working Group (Genetic Monitoring: Development of Tools for Conservation and Management) funded by a joint grant from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) to bring together national and international scientists to advance the field of genetic monitoring. Rapid recent advances in molecular genetic techniques now make it relatively easy and inexpensive to quantify temporal changes in the genetics of populations.  However, the needed theory is not available to provide guidance about when genetic monitoring would provide valuable information or what genetic data are required for effective genetic monitoring. 
 
Gordon Luikart and I are co-PIs on an NSF grant with the objective to synthesize our work on the genetics and evolution of exploited populations accomplished. We are joined in this by Nils Ryman from Stockholm University.   We currently face worldwide collapse of many commercial and sport fishery stocks.  Many exploited fish, as well as hunted wildlife, are suffering from reductions in population size and isolation as a result of habitat destruction and overharvest.  In addition, rapid genetic adaptation in response to selective harvest (e.g., preferential harvest of individuals with larger body or horn size) is recognized as an important problem in exploited populations.
 
Professor Charles Daugherty (School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, VUW) and I direct a collaborative program in Conservation Biology between UM and VUW.  This program takes advantage of the contrasting evolutionary and conservation histories of New Zealand and Montana to offer an internationally based research and education program in conservation biology.   This collaborative program also has supported faculty and graduate student travel to travel to the partner university for field experience and coursework.  Pete Ritchie, VUW, and I are currently in the initial stages of developing molecular genetic approaches to detect regions in the genomes of marine fish that are under selection and will allow us to detect stocks of marine fishes that are not detectable with neutral genetic markers such as microsatellites.
 

I will be in Hobart, Tasmania, for the boreal-autumn semester 2009 working with Phillip England, CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research.