Adaptive differentiation and stock structure in Atlantic cod

During my first postdoctoral position, I worked with Adrienne Kovach at the University of New Hampshire and Nina Therkildsen at Cornell University to provide a high-resolution picture of Atlantic cod population structure in U.S. waters. Using low-coverage whole genomes from over 300 individual cod, we found greater complexity in the stock structure than is currently recognised in management plans, including large chromosomal inversions that are under differential selection pressures among spawning groups.

This project was particularly rewarding for me because of the relevance it has to the management of these dwindling populations. By working directly with fishermen and the Atlantic Cod Stock Structure Working Group, this work led to a refinement of the recognised cod stocks in US waters. This will hopefully lead to improved management, increasing stocks, and a recovery of the fishing industry in New England.

This work has also been featured as one of the suggested readings for the 2021 Research Coordinated Network for Evolution in Changing Seas.