{"id":155272,"date":"2026-09-18T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=155272"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:01:12","slug":"ucf-researcher-uses-conservation-genomics-to-advance-florida-scrub-jay-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-researcher-uses-conservation-genomics-to-advance-florida-scrub-jay-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Researcher Uses Conservation Genomics to Advance Florida Scrub Jay Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

For nearly two decades biologist Lauren Deaner has worked with Florida Scrub jays, contributing to population recovery efforts and translocations. Now, as a doctoral researcher in UCF\u2019s integrative biology program, she is using that field experience to investigate how genetics, behavior and population dynamics influence the long-term recovery of imperiled species.<\/p>\n

Deaner\u2019s dissertation centers on a first-of-its-kind Florida scrub jay translocation initiative examining genetic rescue, a conservation strategy that introduces individuals from other populations to increase genetic diversity and improve the health and viability of an imperiled population.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project gives us a unique opportunity to understand the effects of a large-scale translocation on population recovery, how mate choice is influenced when birds from different genetic units are brought together and how genetic variation changes over time,\u201d Deaner says.<\/p>\n

The project build on regional recovery efforts that began in the late 1990s through mitigation efforts led by the Mosaic Company,<\/a> with guidance from the late Reed Bowman<\/a>, a prominent Florida avian biologist. Raoul Boughton, senior manager of ecology and wildlife at the Mosaic Company, leads the current recovery effort, with Deaner and Sahas Barve, program director of avian ecology at Archbold Biological Station, serving as co-principal investigators.<\/p>\n

Testing Genetic Rescue at an Unprecedented Scale<\/h2>\n

Researchers translocated 48 Florida scrub jays to a new recipient site \u2014 enough birds to fill the site to its estimated carrying capacity. Previous translocations typically moved smaller numbers of birds over several years. All 48 birds were hatched in 2025, minimizing age-related competitive advantages.<\/p>\n

Six months after the translocation, Deaner has already observed promising signs.<\/p>\n

Florida scrub jays typically do not become breeders until they are 2 or 3 years old.  Across six decades of monitoring at Archbold Biological Station and two decades of data from the local population, fewer than 0.25% of recorded nesting attempts involved pairs of one-year-old birds.<\/p>\n

At the recipient site, however, four of the 10 newly formed pairs of one-year-old birds attempted to nest this year \u2014 a rate of 40%. Researchers had expected approximately half of the groups to include young birds serving as helpers  but instead, most translocated birds sought their own breeding positions.<\/p>\n

The early breeding activity is significant because genetic rescue ultimately depends on translocated birds establishing themselves, reproducing and passing their genetic variation into the recipient population. Although it is too early to determine the translocation\u2019s long-term effect, the nesting attempts allow researchers to begin studying whether and how that genetic integration occurs.<\/p>\n