Charles I Ikediashi

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in using genetic tools to understand biodiversity and the evolution of species. I am especially interested in using population genetics to understand current population structure and using this information to prevent the loss of genetic diversity, which may be crucial to preventing the loss of some species. This is evident from my past research.

During my Masters, I undertook two research projects. The first, supervised by Prof Tim Barraclough, involved using housekeeping genes to answer basic questions about the population structure in the bacterial group Bacillus cereus. During the second, supervised by Dr. Lukas Ruber, I used mitochondrial genes, including cytochrome oxidase I to recreate the biogeographical history of the Asian freshwater fish genus Paroshpromenus. There I also tested the use of EPIC (exon primed intron crossing) markers for phylogenetic inference.

 Current Project

Assessing the sustainability of Atlantic Salmon across the Southern part of their European range in the light of climate change and human exploitation

My PhD research which began in March 2011, Recent developments in microsatellite analysis have made it possible to calculate the effective size of a population (effectively the number of breeding individuals in a given population). Catch data has shown a unanimous decline in Atlantic salmon populations globally. The aim of my Phd, which began in March 2011, is to identify whether this trend is also evident in their effective population sizes, and identify the relative contributions of overfishing and global climate change.

I am also involved in research which aims to identify the origins of salmon that have recently re-colonized once inhospitable rivers within the UK. This involves the use of microsatellite data and the international SALSEA database

PUBLICATIONS

 Ikediashi, C., Billington, S. and Stevens, J.R (2012) The origins of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) recolonizing the River Mersey in northwest England. Ecology and Evolution 2, 10: 2537-2548