Polar seminar: Lucila Belén Morales

Today we had the pleasure of welcoming Lucila Belén Morales, from Universidad Andrés Bello (Chile) 🇨🇱 to the Andrés Barbosa Polar Seminar Series.

Lucila shared her fascinating research on genomic divergence in seabirds of the Stercorariidae family (skuas and jaegers), exploring how adaptation, hybridization, and introgression have shaped their evolution in polar and subpolar environments.

Her work includes generating the first chromosome-level genome for Stercorarius chilensis and integrating genomic and ecological data to understand how these species respond to climate change 🌡️🐧.

A truly inspiring talk on the power of genomics to uncover the secrets of life in extreme environments! 💙🌟