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Description of Work:
Geneticist and conservation biologist Dr. Lisette Waits is becoming a
leading research scientist – as well as something of a celebrity in
national media outlets. From popular novels to scientific journal
articles, her name often appears wherever cutting edge genetic
research is mentioned, and her work influences conservation planning
efforts across the world.
NSF Idaho EPSCoR provided Waits with $180,000 of
targeted investigator enhancement funding shortly after she joined the
University of Idaho nearly six years ago. This funding enabled her to
purchase needed equipment, support and train undergraduate and
graduate students, and initiate an ambitious ancient DNA project using
over 400 grizzly bear skulls and skins from museums across the U.S.
Waits’ research group has been involved in conservation genetic
projects evaluating genetic diversity, evolutionary distinctiveness,
and gene flow among natural populations of many different carnivore
species. They have pioneered the use of non-invasive sampling methods
to obtain hair and fecal samples for DNA analysis of wolverines, red
wolves, cougars, coyotes, elk, pronghorn, fox, and many species of
bear.
Outcomes/Impacts:
In 1998 Waits and a colleague established the UI College of Natural
Resources' Laboratory for Ecological and Conservation Genetics (LECG).
This facility is now one of the largest genetics laboratories in the
nation devoted to collecting critical scientific data for wild
populations of plants and animals. Since receiving EPSCoR support, Dr.
Waits’ research has resulted in an additional $1.49 million in
external research grant awards and contracts.
Her popular appeal and growing name as a leading
research scientist is evidenced in two bestselling books that refer to
the LECG and the process of analyzing bear hair for DNA analysis: Sy
Montgomery's nonfiction "Search for the Golden Moon Bear: Science and
Adventure in Pursuit of a New Species" and Nevada Barr's fictional
"Blood Lure." The plot for "Blood Lure" originated from the Greater
Glacier Bear DNA project in the Glacier/Waterton National Peace Park
that involved Waits’ research.
Her work was also featured in the award winning
NSF-funded National Public Radio series titled “The DNA files.” This
series received the 2002 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize for
Health and Medical Reporting and the AAAS Science Journalism Pinnacle
of Excellence Prize, funded by The Whitaker Foundation.
One of Waits’ recent studies showing that the
genetic diversity of Yellowstone grizzly bears has not decreased as
much as previously thought by other wildlife experts was published in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, one of the top
science journals in the U.S. Waits is author of 30 scientific
publications and currently mentors four undergraduate and four
graduate students.
Principal Citation:
Craig R. Miller and Lisette P. Waits. 2003. “The history of effective
population size and genetic diversity in the Yellowstone grizzly (Ursus
arctos): Implications for conservation” PNAS. 100(7): 4334-4339.
Subsequent Grants and Honors:
2003 Outstanding Researcher award; UI College of Natural Resources.
2002 Best Poster; International Bear Association Meeting
2001 Best Paper/Presentation; International Bear Association Meeting
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Award Number:
EPS 9720634
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Project Term:
1998 to 2002
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