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Molecular
Ecology
group
Molecular Ecology group at the University of Primorska: Integrating Genetics and Behavior in Wildlife Conservation.
About us
Laboratory
In our molecular ecology laboratory, we focus on population genetics, utilizing a range of techniques to analyze genetic diversity, structure, organisms. Our work begins with DNA isolation , employing different extraction kits tailored for high-quality genomic DNA, including challenging samples such as ancient and environmental DNA.
Bioinformatics and modeling group
In our bioinformatics and modeling group, we process and analyze a wide range of genomic and ecological data using high-performance servers equipped with both GPU and CPU capacities. Our core work involves the processing of whole genome sequencing (WGS), single-cell sequencing, transcriptomics, metabarcoding, and DNA barcoding data. We apply customized bioinformatic pipelines for quality control, assembly, alignment, variant detection, and gene expression analysis. In some cases, we also analyze Sanger sequencing data. Beyond genomics, we employ artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to automatically analyze images from camera traps and data collected through citizen science initiatives. These tools enable species recognition, behavioral tracking, and ecological modeling. By integrating genetic, visual, and observational datasets, our lab contributes to a deeper understanding of biodiversity, species distributions, and ecosystem dynamics.
Field group
The group focuses on studying mammal ecology using camera traps. By using a camera trapping protocol, developed by the ENETWILD consortium (https://enetwild.com/) in the European Observatory of Wildlife project (https://wildlifeobservatory.org/), the group can estimate densities of larger mammals in the study areas, while also being able to determine the local mammal biodiversity. Studying the local biodiversity is also aid by the integration of environmental DNA (water sampling) metabarcoding.
The group is also active in different citizen science projects focusing on recording wildlife observations and studying the interactions between humans and wildlife, to reduce conflicts.
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Objekt Livade
Livade 6, 6310 Izola