Genome Greenland
Name of applicant
Ida Moltke
Institution
University of Copenhagen
Amount
DKK 4,984,858
Year
2020
Type of grant
Semper Ardens: Accelerate
What?
There are only seven native land mammals in Greenland: muskox, caribou, arctic fox, arctic wolf, stoat, arctic hare and collared lemming. In this project, I aim to investigate how each of these species colonised Greenland. Did the colonisation lead to an extreme population bottleneck, i.e. decrease in population size, like it did for Greenlandic Inuit? And if so, how has this affected their ability to survive in Greenland in the future?
Why?
The purpose of the project is to gain insights into how colonization of a new remote region of the world, like Greenland, can affect a species evolutionarily. Furthermore, the project will hopefully lead to key information and resources that can help in the efforts to conserve Greenland's land mammals both now and in the future with the ongoing climate changes.
How?
My collaborators and I will collect samples from the different species in Greenland. I will then whole genome sequence these samples and analyse the genomic data using population genetics methods.