Jente Ottenburghs obtained his PhD at the University of Wageningen where he studied the genetic consequences of hybridization in geese. During this project, he also started the Avian Hybrids Project, a website and blog gathering the recent literature on hybridization in birds. Jente continued his goose research at the Uppsala University (Sweden). In particular, he focused on the population genomics of several hybridizing goose species, such as Greater White-fronted Goose, Bean Goose and Pink-footed Goose. Jente is currently a lecturer at the University of Wageningen, teaching a wide range of topics in ecology and evolution.
In his talk, Jente will explore the incidence of hybridization in waterfowl and how this influences their genetic make-up. He will show that the exchange of genetic material through hybridization is a common phenomenon that changes the way we think about avian evolution and taxonomy.
