Rebekah Alice Oomen
Academic interests
I’m a James S. McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellow in Kjetill Jakobsen's group at CEES. I completed my PhD in 2019 under the supervision of Dr. Jeff Hutchings at Dalhousie University, Canada, in collaboration CEES and the Institute of Marine Research Flødevigen. My primary research interest lies in understanding how organisms respond to environmental change. I examine the ecological and evolutionary forces that influence genetic differentiation within species and the consequences of such intraspecific variation for the response of a species to changes in its environment. I have employed a variety of molecular, bioinformatic, and experimental techniques to explore these questions in a range of study systems that includes waterbirds, mammals, and fishes.
My master’s and PhD research focused on identifying the spatial scale and molecular basis of variation in thermal responses in Atlantic cod, to better understand local adaptation in the marine environment and its consequences for conservation and management of marine ecosystems in the face of global climate change. I’m also interested in integrating genomic data into eco-evolutionary models for predicting population responses to environmental change and the role of behaviour and mating systems in environmental responses and adaptation. My postdoctoral research addresses these topics using tools from complex systems science, such as individual based modeling and network analyses. I also collaborate with Dr. Esben Moland Olsen (IMR Flødevigen) and others on the Norwegian Research Council project CODSIZE, integrating gene expression analysis into a long-term telemetry study of coastal Atlantic cod to better understand factors affecting population dynamics. In addition to these projects, I'm a member of diverse working groups based at the Santa Fe Institute investigating topics such as the effects of resource abundance on sociality and convergent evolution of microbiomes.
Publications
- Roney, Nancy; Oomen, Rebekah Alice; Knutsen, Halvor; Olsen, Esben Moland & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2018). Fine-Scale Population Differences in Atlantic Cod Reproductive Success: A Potential Mechanism for Ecological Speciation in a Marine Fish. Ecology and Evolution. ISSN 2045-7758. s 1- 11 . doi: 10.1002/ece3.4615 Full text in Research Archive.
- Roney, Nancy; Oomen, Rebekah Alice; Knutsen, Halvor; Olsen, Esben Moland & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2018). Temporal variability in offspring quality and individual reproductive output in a broadcast-spawning marine fish. ICES Journal of Marine Science. ISSN 1054-3139. 75(4), s 1353- 1361 . doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsx232
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2017). Transcriptomic responses to environmental change in fishes: Insights from RNA sequencing. FACETS. ISSN 2371-1671. 2, s 610- 641 . doi: 10.1139/facets-2017-0015 Full text in Research Archive.
- Kuparinen, Anna; Roney, Nancy E.; Oomen, Rebekah Alice; Hutchings, Jeffrey & Olsen, Esben Moland (2016). Small-scale life history variability suggests potential for spatial mismatches in Atlantic cod management units. ICES Journal of Marine Science. ISSN 1054-3139. 73(2), s 286- 292 . doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsv181
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2016). Genetic variation in plasticity of life-history traits between Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) populations exposed to contrasting thermal regimes. Canadian Journal of Zoology. ISSN 0008-4301. 94(4), s 257- 264 . doi: 10.1139/cjz-2015-0186
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2015). Genetic variability in reaction norms in fishes. Environmental Reviews. ISSN 1181-8700. 23(3), s 353- 366 . doi: 10.1139/er-2014-0077
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2015). Variation in spawning time promotes genetic variability in population responses to environmental change in a marine fish. Conservation Physiology. ISSN 2051-1434. 3:cov027(1) . doi: 10.1093/conphys/cov027
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice; Knutsen, Halvor; Olsen, Esben Moland; Jentoft, Sissel; Stenseth, Nils Chr. & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2018). Transcriptomic variability in population responses of Atlantic cod to temperature.
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice (2017). Genetic and environmental drivers of gene expression in Atlantic cod.
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice (2016). Transcriptomic responses to environmental change in fishes: insights from RNA-seq.
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice; Knutsen, Halvor; Olsen, Esben Moland; Jentoft, Sissel; Stenseth, Nils Christian & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2016). Genetic variability in population responses of Atlantic cod to temperature.
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice (2015). The transcriptomic response of cod to temperature.
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice; Knutsen, Halvor; Olsen, Esben Moland; Jentoft, Sissel; Stenseth, Nils Christian & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2015). Genetic variability in population responses of Atlantic cod to environmental change and the transcriptomic response to temperature.
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice; Knutsen, Halvor; Olsen, Esben Moland; Jentoft, Sissel; Stenseth, Nils Christian & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2015). Genetic variability in population responses of Atlantic cod to temperature.
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice; Knutsen, Halvor; Olsen, Esben Moland; Jentoft, Sissel; Stenseth, Nils Christian & Hutchings, Jeffrey (2015). The transcriptomic response of cod to temperature.
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice; Knutsen, Halvor; Olsen, Esben Moland; Jentoft, Sissel; Stenseth, Nils Christian & Hutchings, Jeffrey A. (2014). Genetic variability in population responses of Atlantic cod to environmental change.
- Oomen, Rebekah Alice (2013). Genetic variability in population responses of Atlantic cod to environmental change.