Melanie Culver, PhD
Melanie uses genetic tools and analyses to contribute to management decisions and wildlife conservation. She uses genetic and genomic approaches across a variety of species including evolution, ecology, behavorial ecology, population dynamics, population monitoring, and virology, all which contribute to protecting wildlife and ecosystems.
Melanie’s dissertation project, at the National Cancer Institute, examined many aspects of puma conservation genetic aspects from taxonomy to paternity. As a Postdoctoral Researcher at Virginia Tech, her work expanded to black bears, eagles, mussels and walleye. In 2002, Melanie joined the Arizona CRU as Assistant Leader and the faculty at the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment.
Currently her research focus is using genetic tools and computational analyses to contribute to management decisions and the conservation of wildlife. She - together with her graduate students, postdocs, interns, undergraduates, high school students and a wide array of collaborators - uses genetic and genomic approaches across a variety of species and disciplines, including evolution, ecology, behavioral ecology, population dynamics, population monitoring, and virology, all of which contribute to protecting ecosystems their wildlife communities including wild felids, carnivores, and other wildlife species. Melanie has also been conducting a citizen science jaguar and ocelot trail camera monitoring effort in southern Arizona that has detected 3 jaguars and 4 ocelots over the past 10 years.
Professional Experience
Assistant Unit Leader, Arizona Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, 2002-
Education and Certifications
Ph D University of Maryland 1999
BS University of Utah 1984
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 41
Use of museum specimens to refine historical pronghorn subspecies boundaries
Endangered Sonoran (Antilocapra americana sonoriensis) and Peninsular (A. a. peninsularis) pronghorn persist largely because of captive breeding and reintroduction efforts. Recovery team managers want to re-establish pronghorn in their native range, but there is currently uncertainty regarding the subspecies status of extinct pronghorn populations that historically inhabited southern California, U
Authors
Erin E. Hahn, Anastasia Klimova, Adrian Munguia-Vega, Kevin B. Clark, Melanie Culver
Genetic variation among island and continental populations of Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) subspecies in North America
Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) have a large geographic range spanning both North and South America and resident populations occur on many islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Many owl populations are isolated and disjunct from other populations, but studies on genetic variation within and among populations are limited. We characterized DNA microsatellite variation in po
Authors
Alberto Macias-Duarte, Courtney J. Conway, Geoffrey L. Holroyd, Hector E. Valdez-Gomez, Melanie Culver
Genetic assessment of a bighorn sheep population expansion in the Silver Bell Mountains, Arizona
Background: The isolated population of desert bighorn sheep in the Silver Bell Mountains of southern Arizona underwent an unprecedented expansion in merely four years. We hypothesized that immigration from neighboring bighorn sheep populations could have caused the increase in numbers as detected by Arizona Game and Fish Department annual aerial counts.Methods: We applied a multilocus genetic appr
Authors
John A. Erwin, Karla Vargasc, Brian R. Blaisc, Kendell Bennettc, Julia Muldoond, Sarah Findysz, Courtney Christiec, James R. Heffelfingere, Melanie Culver
Genome-wide analysis of SNPs is consistent with no domestic dog ancestry in the endangered Mexican Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi)
The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) was historically distributed throughout the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Extensive predator removal campaigns during the early 20th century, however, resulted in its eventual extirpation by the mid 1980s. At this time, the Mexican wolf existed only in 3 separate captive lineages (McBride, Ghost Ranch, and Aragón) descended from 3, 2, a
Authors
Robert R. Fitak, Sarah E. Rinkevich, Melanie Culver
Evolutionary and functional mitogenomics associated with the genetic restoration of the Florida panther
Florida panthers are endangered pumas that currently persist in reduced patches of habitat in South Florida, USA. We performed mitogenome reference-based assemblies for most parental lines of the admixed Florida panthers that resulted from the introduction of female Texas pumas into South Florida in 1995. With the addition of 2 puma mitogenomes, we characterized 174 single nucleotide polymorphisms
Authors
Alexander Ochoa, David P. Onorato, Robert R. Fitak, Melody Roelke-Parker, Melanie Culver
Diet of pumas (Puma concolor) in Sonora, Mexico, as determined by GPS kill sites and molecular identified scat, with comments on jaguar (Panthera onca) diet
We documented puma (Puma concolor) and jaguar (Panthera onca) prey consumption in northeastern Sonora, Mexico, by investigating global positioning system cluster sites (n = 220), and conducting molecular analyses of scat (n = 116) collected between 2011 and 2013. We used camera trap data (n = 8,976 camera days) to estimate relative abundances of pumas and jaguars. Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was
Authors
Ivonne Cassaigne, Rodrigo A. Medellin, Ron W. Thompson, Melanie Culver, Alexander Ochoa, Karla Vargas, Jack L. Childs, Jim Sanderson, Rurik List, Armando Torres-Gomez
Jaguar taxonomy and genetic diversity for southern Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico
Executive SummaryThe jaguar is the largest Neotropical felid and the only extant representative of the genus Panthera in the Americas. In recorded history, the jaguars range has extended from the Southern United States, throughout Mexico, to Central and South America, and they occupy a wide variety of habitats. A previous jaguar genetic study found high historical levels of gene flow among jaguar
Authors
Melanie Culver, Alexander Ochoa Hein
Jaguar surveying and monitoring in the United States
Because of the jaguar’s (Panthera onca) endangered status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 throughout its range (from Arizona in the north to Argentina in the south), jaguar individuals and populations are monitored to varying degrees throughout their range. Knowledge gained from monitoring jaguars is helpful for wildlife managers who are responsible for conserving this species. The
Authors
Melanie Culver
A new panel of SNP markers for the individual identification of North American pumas
Pumas Puma concolor are one of the most studied terrestrial carnivores because of their widespread distribution, substantial ecological impacts, and conflicts with humans. Over the past decade, managing pumas has involved extensive efforts including the use of genetic methods. Microsatellites have been the most commonly used genetic markers; however, technical artifacts and little overlap of freq
Authors
Robert R. Fitak, Ashwin Naidu, Ron W. Thompson, Melanie Culver
Can captive populations function as sources of genetic variation for reintroductions into the wild? A case study of the Arabian oryx from the Phoenix Zoo and the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve, Jordan
The Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) historically ranged across the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries until its extirpation in 1972. In 1963–1964 a captive breeding program for this species was started at the Phoenix Zoo (PHX); it ultimately consisted of 11 animals that became known as the ‘World Herd’. In 1978–1979 a wild population was established at the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve (SWR), Jo
Authors
Alexander Ochoa, Stuart A. Wells, Gary West, Ma’en Al-Smadi, Sergio A. Redondo, Sydnee R. Sexton, Melanie Culver
Molecular detection of bacteria in the families Rickettsiaceae and Anaplasmataceae in northern crested caracaras (Caracara cheriway)
Bacterial pathogens of the families Anaplasmataceae and Rickettsiaceae are often spread to humans or other animals from bites from infected arthropod hosts. Recently, an increasing number of studies have implicated migratory birds in the circulation of these pathogens through the spread of arthropod vectors. However, few studies have examined the potential for resident bird populations to serve as
Authors
John A. Erwin, Robert R. Fitak, James F. Dwyer, Joan L. Morrison, Melanie Culver
Assessing models of speciation under different biogeographic scenarios; An empirical study using multi-locus and RNA-seq analyses
Evolutionary biology often seeks to decipher the drivers of speciation, and much debate persists over the relative importance of isolation and gene flow in the formation of new species. Genetic studies of closely related species can assess if gene flow was present during speciation, because signatures of past introgression often persist in the genome. We test hypotheses on which mechanisms of spec
Authors
Taylor Edwards, Marc Tollis, PingHsun Hsieh, Ryan N. Gutenkunst, Zhen Liu, Kenro Kusumi, Melanie Culver, Robert W. Murphy
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 41
Use of museum specimens to refine historical pronghorn subspecies boundaries
Endangered Sonoran (Antilocapra americana sonoriensis) and Peninsular (A. a. peninsularis) pronghorn persist largely because of captive breeding and reintroduction efforts. Recovery team managers want to re-establish pronghorn in their native range, but there is currently uncertainty regarding the subspecies status of extinct pronghorn populations that historically inhabited southern California, U
Authors
Erin E. Hahn, Anastasia Klimova, Adrian Munguia-Vega, Kevin B. Clark, Melanie Culver
Genetic variation among island and continental populations of Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) subspecies in North America
Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) have a large geographic range spanning both North and South America and resident populations occur on many islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Many owl populations are isolated and disjunct from other populations, but studies on genetic variation within and among populations are limited. We characterized DNA microsatellite variation in po
Authors
Alberto Macias-Duarte, Courtney J. Conway, Geoffrey L. Holroyd, Hector E. Valdez-Gomez, Melanie Culver
Genetic assessment of a bighorn sheep population expansion in the Silver Bell Mountains, Arizona
Background: The isolated population of desert bighorn sheep in the Silver Bell Mountains of southern Arizona underwent an unprecedented expansion in merely four years. We hypothesized that immigration from neighboring bighorn sheep populations could have caused the increase in numbers as detected by Arizona Game and Fish Department annual aerial counts.Methods: We applied a multilocus genetic appr
Authors
John A. Erwin, Karla Vargasc, Brian R. Blaisc, Kendell Bennettc, Julia Muldoond, Sarah Findysz, Courtney Christiec, James R. Heffelfingere, Melanie Culver
Genome-wide analysis of SNPs is consistent with no domestic dog ancestry in the endangered Mexican Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi)
The Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) was historically distributed throughout the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Extensive predator removal campaigns during the early 20th century, however, resulted in its eventual extirpation by the mid 1980s. At this time, the Mexican wolf existed only in 3 separate captive lineages (McBride, Ghost Ranch, and Aragón) descended from 3, 2, a
Authors
Robert R. Fitak, Sarah E. Rinkevich, Melanie Culver
Evolutionary and functional mitogenomics associated with the genetic restoration of the Florida panther
Florida panthers are endangered pumas that currently persist in reduced patches of habitat in South Florida, USA. We performed mitogenome reference-based assemblies for most parental lines of the admixed Florida panthers that resulted from the introduction of female Texas pumas into South Florida in 1995. With the addition of 2 puma mitogenomes, we characterized 174 single nucleotide polymorphisms
Authors
Alexander Ochoa, David P. Onorato, Robert R. Fitak, Melody Roelke-Parker, Melanie Culver
Diet of pumas (Puma concolor) in Sonora, Mexico, as determined by GPS kill sites and molecular identified scat, with comments on jaguar (Panthera onca) diet
We documented puma (Puma concolor) and jaguar (Panthera onca) prey consumption in northeastern Sonora, Mexico, by investigating global positioning system cluster sites (n = 220), and conducting molecular analyses of scat (n = 116) collected between 2011 and 2013. We used camera trap data (n = 8,976 camera days) to estimate relative abundances of pumas and jaguars. Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was
Authors
Ivonne Cassaigne, Rodrigo A. Medellin, Ron W. Thompson, Melanie Culver, Alexander Ochoa, Karla Vargas, Jack L. Childs, Jim Sanderson, Rurik List, Armando Torres-Gomez
Jaguar taxonomy and genetic diversity for southern Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico
Executive SummaryThe jaguar is the largest Neotropical felid and the only extant representative of the genus Panthera in the Americas. In recorded history, the jaguars range has extended from the Southern United States, throughout Mexico, to Central and South America, and they occupy a wide variety of habitats. A previous jaguar genetic study found high historical levels of gene flow among jaguar
Authors
Melanie Culver, Alexander Ochoa Hein
Jaguar surveying and monitoring in the United States
Because of the jaguar’s (Panthera onca) endangered status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 throughout its range (from Arizona in the north to Argentina in the south), jaguar individuals and populations are monitored to varying degrees throughout their range. Knowledge gained from monitoring jaguars is helpful for wildlife managers who are responsible for conserving this species. The
Authors
Melanie Culver
A new panel of SNP markers for the individual identification of North American pumas
Pumas Puma concolor are one of the most studied terrestrial carnivores because of their widespread distribution, substantial ecological impacts, and conflicts with humans. Over the past decade, managing pumas has involved extensive efforts including the use of genetic methods. Microsatellites have been the most commonly used genetic markers; however, technical artifacts and little overlap of freq
Authors
Robert R. Fitak, Ashwin Naidu, Ron W. Thompson, Melanie Culver
Can captive populations function as sources of genetic variation for reintroductions into the wild? A case study of the Arabian oryx from the Phoenix Zoo and the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve, Jordan
The Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) historically ranged across the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries until its extirpation in 1972. In 1963–1964 a captive breeding program for this species was started at the Phoenix Zoo (PHX); it ultimately consisted of 11 animals that became known as the ‘World Herd’. In 1978–1979 a wild population was established at the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve (SWR), Jo
Authors
Alexander Ochoa, Stuart A. Wells, Gary West, Ma’en Al-Smadi, Sergio A. Redondo, Sydnee R. Sexton, Melanie Culver
Molecular detection of bacteria in the families Rickettsiaceae and Anaplasmataceae in northern crested caracaras (Caracara cheriway)
Bacterial pathogens of the families Anaplasmataceae and Rickettsiaceae are often spread to humans or other animals from bites from infected arthropod hosts. Recently, an increasing number of studies have implicated migratory birds in the circulation of these pathogens through the spread of arthropod vectors. However, few studies have examined the potential for resident bird populations to serve as
Authors
John A. Erwin, Robert R. Fitak, James F. Dwyer, Joan L. Morrison, Melanie Culver
Assessing models of speciation under different biogeographic scenarios; An empirical study using multi-locus and RNA-seq analyses
Evolutionary biology often seeks to decipher the drivers of speciation, and much debate persists over the relative importance of isolation and gene flow in the formation of new species. Genetic studies of closely related species can assess if gene flow was present during speciation, because signatures of past introgression often persist in the genome. We test hypotheses on which mechanisms of spec
Authors
Taylor Edwards, Marc Tollis, PingHsun Hsieh, Ryan N. Gutenkunst, Zhen Liu, Kenro Kusumi, Melanie Culver, Robert W. Murphy