PhD defense: Peter Frandsen
Adaptive Evolution and Demographic History of African Great Apes
Supervision
Hans R. Siegismund, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
Anders Albrechtsen, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
Christina Hvilsom, PhD, Copenhagen Zoo
Exam Committee
M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Professor, Natural History Museum of Denmark
Dorte Bekkevold, PhD, DTU AQUA, National Institute of Aquatic Resources
MichaelW. Bruford, Professor, Cardiff University, UK
Abstract
Through population genomic analysis of all extant African great apes, the work presented in this thesis includes i) the first genome-wide analysis of the evolutionary impact of a long-term population decline in the mountain gorilla, ii) new insights to the complex demographic history of chimpanzees with evidence of ancestral gene flow from bonobos, and last, iii) a novel approach to improve in situ and ex situ conservation of the endangered chimpanzee.