Jessica Marie da SilvaSouth African National Biodiversity Institute · Biodiversity Research, Assessment and Monitoring
Jessica Marie da Silva
PhD
About
45
Publications
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559
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Education
April 2009 - April 2014
January 2004 - March 2005
Publications
Publications (45)
Measuring genetic diversity of wild species using DNA-based data remains resource intensive and time-consuming for nearly all species. Yet, genetic assessments are needed for global conservation commitments including the Convention on Biological Diversity and for governments and managers to evaluate conservation progress and to prioritize species a...
Recent scientific evidence shows that genetic diversity must be maintained, managed, and monitored to protect biodiversity and nature's contributions to people. Three genetic diversity indicators, two of which do not require DNA-based assessment, have been proposed for reporting to the Convention on Biological Diversity and other conservation and p...
Genetic diversity (GD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD) respectively represent species' evolutionary potential and history, and support most of the biodiversity benefits to humanity. Yet, these two biodiversity facets have been overlooked in previous biodiversity policies. As the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Ku...
Genetic diversity among and within populations of all species is necessary for people and nature to survive and thrive in a changing world. Over the past three years, commitments for conserving genetic diversity have become more ambitious and specific under the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) draft post-2020 global biodiversity framework...
Genetic diversity among and within populations of all species is necessary for people and the planet to survive in a changing world. Over the past three years, the conservation of genetic diversity has received increased ambition and specificity in commitments under the draft Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) post 2020 Global Biodiversity...
Recent scientific evidence shows that genetic diversity must be maintained, managed, and monitored to maintain biodiversity and nature's contributions to people. Three genetic diversity indicators, two of which do not require DNA-based studies, were previously proposed for reporting to the Convention on Biological Diversity and other conservation a...
Genetic diversity (GD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD) respectively represent species' evolutionary potential and history, and support most of the biodiversity benefits to humanity. Yet, these two biodiversity facets have been overlooked in previous biodiversity policies. As the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity plan to meet in Dece...
Genetic diversity provides the capacity for species to evolve in response to environmental change, and its importance in assessing the status of species is well established. However, there is a paucity of genetic monitoring studies. The Endangered western leopard toad (Sclerophrys pantherina), endemic to South Africa, is a good candidate for geneti...
Estimating and planning for the impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of protected areas is a major challenge for conservation managers. When these areas are topographically heterogenous and contain species' entire ranges, this challenge is exacerbated because the coarse spatial scales of Global Circulation Model projections provide limited...
Open access to sequence data is a cornerstone of biology and biodiversity research, but has created tension under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Policy decisions could compromise research and development, unless a practical multilateral solution is implemented. Ensuring international benefit-sharing from sequence data...
The Critically Endangered Chapman's pygmy chameleon Rhampholeon chapmanorum is endemic to the low elevation rainforest of the Malawi Hills in southern Malawi. Much of this forest has been converted to agriculture and it was uncertain whether chameleon populations have persisted. We used current and historical satellite imagery to identify remaining...
International agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have committed to conserve, and sustainably and equitably use, biodiversity. The CBD is a vital instrument for global conservation because it guides 195 countries and the European Union in setting priorities and allocating resources, and requires regular reporting on prog...
Genetic diversity is critically important for all species-domesticated and wild- to adapt to environmental change, and for ecosystem resilience to extreme events. International agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have committed to conserve and sustainably and equitably use all levels of biodiversity-genes, species and ec...
Life has evolved in the ocean for 3.7 billion years, resulting in a rich ‘ocean genome’, the ensemble of genetic material present in all marine biodiversity, including both the physical genes and the information they encode. Rapid advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics have enabled exploration of the ocean genome and are informing i...
The ‘ocean genome’ is the foundation upon which
all marine ecosystems rest and is defined here as the
ensemble of genetic material present in all marine
biodiversity, including both the physical genes and the
information they encode. The dynamics of the ocean
genome enable organisms to adapt to diverse ecological
niches and changing environmental c...
A horizon scan was conducted to identify emerging and intensifying issues for biodiversity conservation in South Africa over the next 5–10 years. South African biodiversity experts submitted 63 issues of which ten were identified as priorities using the Delphi method. These priority issues were then plotted along axes of social agreement and scient...
There are notable examples of repeated evolution of ecomorphs within groups of closely related species, these are typically viewed as remarkable cases of natural selection. In most cases, directional selection for certain phenotypic traits under specific (and differing) environmental conditions is implicated. Differing ecomorphological forms for cl...
Compared to the global average, extinction risk for mainland African reptiles, particularly for South Africa, appears to be relatively low. Despite this, African reptiles are under threat primarily due to habitat loss as a result of agriculture, resource extraction, and urbanisation, and these pressures are expected to increase into the future. Sou...
Life on earth relates directly to the diversity of genes in space and time. The genomes of organisms encode the basic biological structures that define them, and allows individuals to survive and persist through time in changing environments. To this end, DNA can best be described as the foundation of all life on earth, it is recognised as an impor...
This chapter discusses the status of genetic monitoring in South Africa, highlighting key considerations for
future genetic monitoring programmes, such as which species to prioritize, how often should they be
monitored, what molecular markers to use, and the type of indicators to be evaluated
Given the ever-increasing anthropogenic changes to natural ecosystems, it is imperative that temporal changes in genetic diversity be monitored to help safeguard the future viability of species. Capensibufo rosei is a small, range-restricted bufonid from South Africa, believed to have experienced an enigmatic decline likely due to the suppression o...
Intraspecific genetic diversity provides the basis for evolutionary change and is therefore considered the most fundamental level of biodiversity. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and microsatellite loci are the markers most typically used in population-level studies; however,
their patterns of genetic variation are not always congruent. This can result i...
To investigate whether morphological variation in a continental radiation of lizards (Chamaeleonidae) was driven by ecological opportunity. KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Chameleons from all morphotypes were genotyped (n = 279) using 10 microsatellite and one mitochondrial marker (n = 130). Genetic spatial structure was examined in a Bayesian framewo...
Intraspecific genetic diversity provides the basis for evolutionary change and is therefore considered the most fundamental level of biodiversity. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and microsatellite loci are the markers most typically used in population-level studies; however, their patterns of genetic variation are not always congruent. This can result i...
Many animals show unique morphological and behavioural adaptations to specific habitats. In particular,
variation in cranial morphology is known to influence feeding performance, which in turn influences dietary
habits and, ultimately, fitness. Dietary separation is an important means of partitioning ecological niches and
avoiding inter- and intras...
The head is a complex integrated system that is implicated in many vital functions. As such, its morphology is impacted by different and sometimes conflicting demands. Consequently, head shape varies greatly depending on the environment and dietary ecology of an organism. Moreover, given its role in territory defence and mating in lizards, it is al...
On the Cape Peninsula, Capensibufo rosei is known from only two isolated breeding populations within Table Mountain National Park. Because of its declining state, there is an urgent need to understand the genetic diversity, population structure and patterns of movement of this species. To do this, 15 microsatellite primer pairs were designed, optim...
For over a decade, molecular short standardised DNA fragments, termed DNA barcodes, have been developed for species discrimination around the world. As of 2010, the vast majority of barcoding research was biased toward particular taxonomic groups and geographic regions largely because researchers in developed countries were the ones with the resour...
For over a decade, molecular short standardised DNA fragments, termed DNA barcodes, have been developed for species discrimination around the world. As of 2010, the vast majority of barcoding research was biased toward particular taxonomic groups and geographic regions largely because researchers in developed countries were the ones with the resour...
Phenotypic performance in different environments is central to understanding the evolutionary and ecological processes that drive adaptive divergence and, ultimately, speciation. Because habitat structure can affect an animal's foraging behaviour, anti-predator defences, and communication behaviour, it can influence both natural and sexual selectio...
1. Evidence that morphological traits associated with particular environments are functionally adapted to those environments is a key component to determining the adaptive nature of radiations. Adaptation is often measured by testing how organisms perform in diverse habitats, with performance traits associated with locomotion thought to be amongst...
A molecular phylogeny of the African plated lizards, genus Gerrhosaurus Wiegmann, 1828 (Squamata: Gerrhosauridae), with the description of two new genera Abstract We constructed a molecular phylogeny of the African plated lizard family Gerrhosauridae using two mitochondrial markers (ND2, 732 bp; 16S, 576 bp) and one nuclear marker (PRLR, 538 bp). T...
Natural selection tends to favour optimal phenotypes either through directional or stabilizing selection; however, phenotypic variation in natural populations is common and arises from a combination of biotic and abiotic interactions. In these instances, rare phenotypes may possess a fitness advantage over the more common phenotypes in particular e...
Chameleons are highly specialized and mostly arboreal lizards characterized by a suite of derived characters. The grasping feet and tail are thought to be related to the arboreal life-style of chameleons. Yet, specializations for grasping are thought to trade-off with running ability. Indeed, previous studies have demonstrated a trade-off between r...
A recently radiated clade of dwarf chameleon (genus Bradypodion) localised to central-southern KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa is considered taxonomically problematic due to the observed
discordance between morphology and genetics within and between its species. The clade is made up of two described species
(B. melanocephalum–B. thamnobates) a...
Declining populations of less than 250 mature individuals are symptomatic of many Critically Endangered cycads, which, globally, comprise the most threatened group of organisms as a result of collecting and habitat loss. Survival plans focus on law enforcement, reintroduction, and augmentation programmes using plants from the wild and botanical gar...
Questions
Question (1)
I have been trying to run DIYABC on my microsat data. All looks fine according to sample input files, and the program reads my file fine. However, I cannot get beyond setting my historical models. I continue to get an error message that states that I must indicate when samples are taken. No where in the manual or online have I found out how to do this. If I use the provided sample dataset, I get the same errors. I'm at a loss. Can anyone help?
