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Robert (Scott) Cornman, Ph.D.

Scott Cornman is a Biologist at the Fort Collins Science Center. 

(Robert) Scott Cornman is a Biologist at the Fort Collins Science Center. He received a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Georgia. He is a genomics specialist focusing on the application of SNPs, RNA-Seq, and barcode sequencing to organismal ecology and conservation.

Education

  • PhD Genetics/University of Georgia, 2006
  • B.A. History/Rice University, 1992

Professional Experience

  • 2015-present, Biologist, USGS FORT, Fort Collins, CO
  • 2012-2015, Biologist, USGS LSC, Leetown, WV
  • 2008-2012, Geneticist, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD

Science and Products

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A genetic analysis illustration

Molecular Ecology Lab (MEL)

The Molecular Ecology Laboratory applies genetic and genomic technologies to address a variety of complex questions and conservation issues facing the management of the Nation's fish and wildlife resources. Together with our partners, we design and implement studies to document genetic diversity and the distribution of genetic variation among individuals, populations, and species. Information from...
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Ecosystems, Invasive Species Program, Wildlife Program, Fort Collins Science Center
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Molecular Ecology Lab (MEL)

The Molecular Ecology Laboratory applies genetic and genomic technologies to address a variety of complex questions and conservation issues facing the management of the Nation's fish and wildlife resources. Together with our partners, we design and implement studies to document genetic diversity and the distribution of genetic variation among individuals, populations, and species. Information from...
Learn More
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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

Genomics and Bioinformatics

Genetic analysis is increasingly used to understand ecosystem processes and inform conservation, management, and policy. I assist USGS researchers and their collaborators in the design, analysis, and interpretation of high-throughput genetic studies. Common applications include: detecting genes responsive to particular environmental stressors in a sentinel species or species of conservation...
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Fort Collins Science Center
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Genomics and Bioinformatics

Genetic analysis is increasingly used to understand ecosystem processes and inform conservation, management, and policy. I assist USGS researchers and their collaborators in the design, analysis, and interpretation of high-throughput genetic studies. Common applications include: detecting genes responsive to particular environmental stressors in a sentinel species or species of conservation...
Learn More
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a transcriptomics graph

Molecular Genetics

The use of molecular genetics has become increasingly important in addressing wildlife conservation issues. In the Fort Collins Science Center Molecular Ecology Lab, scientists answer complex questions and conservation issues facing the management of the Nation's fish and wildlife resources. For example, FORT scientists can now locate genes that may contribute to a species' ability to respond to...
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Energy & Wildlife, Fort Collins Science Center
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Molecular Genetics

The use of molecular genetics has become increasingly important in addressing wildlife conservation issues. In the Fort Collins Science Center Molecular Ecology Lab, scientists answer complex questions and conservation issues facing the management of the Nation's fish and wildlife resources. For example, FORT scientists can now locate genes that may contribute to a species' ability to respond to...
Learn More
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A male sage grouse struts his stuff on the sage steppe.

Conservation Genomics

Conservation genomics is a new field of science that applies novel whole-genome sequencing technology to problems in conservation biology. Rapidly advancing molecular technologies are revolutionizing wildlife ecology, greatly expanding our understanding of wildlife and their interactions with the environment. In the same way that molecular tools such as microsatellites revolutionized wildlife...
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Sage-grouse & Sagebrush Ecosystem, Fort Collins Science Center
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Conservation Genomics

Conservation genomics is a new field of science that applies novel whole-genome sequencing technology to problems in conservation biology. Rapidly advancing molecular technologies are revolutionizing wildlife ecology, greatly expanding our understanding of wildlife and their interactions with the environment. In the same way that molecular tools such as microsatellites revolutionized wildlife...
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Filter Total Items: 13

Hepatic Transcriptome of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) Exposed to 17B.-Trenbolone

The files in this data release are RNA seq datafiles from a study that examined the effects of the synthetic anabolic steroid 17B. hydroxyestra 4,9,11 trien-3-one, trenbolone (17B.T - CAS 10161-33-8), a common contaminant of wastes from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were exposed in the egg and through feed to multiple doses of 17βT and live
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Eastern Ecological Science Center

Genetic variation in hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) assessed from archived samples

Hoary bats are among the bat species most commonly killed by turbine strikes in the midwestern United States. The impact of this mortality on species census size is not understood, due in part to the difficulty of estimating population size for this highly migratory and elusive species. Genetic effective population size (Ne) could provide an index of census population size if other factors affecti
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Fort Collins Science Center

Sample collection information and SNP data for Gunnison Sage-grouse across the species range generated in the Molecular Ecology Lab during 2015-2018

This dataset contains sample collection information and SNP genotypes for populations of Gunnison Sage-grouse across the species' range. This data was collected in order to examine patterns of adaptive genetic variation in Gunnison Sage-grouse. The data is archived in GenBank at the following URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/517770.
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Fort Collins Science Center

Taxonomic composition of environmental DNA acquired by filtration from the St. Regis River, New York

Environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys have become important tools for monitoring aquatic biodiversity. Barcode sequencing of eDNA generates community profiles that, while potentially biased in both capture and amplification, can nonetheless yield high information content per unit cost. While factors affecting eDNA capture and amplification have been heavily studied, watershed-scale assessments of fish
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Fort Collins Science Center

Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Pollen Metagenome

The rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) is a listed species under the Endangered Species Act of the United States. While understood to be a highly generalist forager, little is known on the role that limited floral resources or shifting floral community composition could have played in B. affinis decline. Determining which floral species provide suitable B. affinis forage could assist conser
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Eastern Ecological Science Center

Effects of early life stage exposure of largemouth bass to atrazine or a model estrogen (17a-ethinylestradiol)

Largemouth base histological development and transcriptomic changes in gonad tissue after early life stage exposure to Atrazine (1-Chloro-3-ethylamino-5-isopropylamino-2,4,6-triazine) or the model estrogen 17a-ethinylestradiol.
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Columbia Environmental Research Center

Metabarcoding of Feces of Pacific Walruses and Autosomal DNA Sequence Data of Marine Invertebrates, 2012-2015, Alaska

This data set describes nucleotide sequence data derived from 18S ribosomal DNA amplified in two fragments. A total of 87 feces from Pacific walrus and 57 marine invertebrates were examined for this study. Samples were collected from the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea, Alaska. Samples used in the study originated from feces or muscle samples collected in the field from ice floes or benthic van Veen gr
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Alaska Science Center, Molecular Ecology Laboratory

Genetic detection of Lake Sinai Virus in honey bees (Apis mellifera) and other insects

Lake Sinai Viruses (LSV) are common ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses of honey bees (Apis mellifera) that frequently reach high abundance but are not linked to overt disease. LSVs are genetically heterogeneous and collectively widespread, but despite frequent detection in surveys, the ecological and geographic factors structuring their distribution in A. mellifera are not understood. Even less is kno
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Fort Collins Science Center

Sample collection information, single nucleotide polymorphism, and microsatellite data for white-tailed ptarmigan across the species range generated in the Molecular Ecology Lab during 2016

This data release comprises a dataset that contains sample collection information and microsatellite genotypes, and another dataset that contains single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes with sample collection information for populations of white-tailed ptarmigan across the species' range. There is also an additional file (accession numbers.xlsx) linking samples to accession numbers in Genba
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Fort Collins Science Center

Metagenomic detection and reconstruction of Lake Sinai Virus from honey bee sequence data

A survey of public honey bee sequence data was performed to detect infections by Lake Sinai Virus (LSV). The Sequence Read Archive of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) was queried to identify accessions of RNA sequence data derived from honey bee. These were filtered as described below and then up to 50 million reads or read pairs were downloaded and searched against a refer
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Fort Collins Science Center

Metagenetic analysis of stream community composition based on environmental DNA

A survey of environmental DNA was performed in Tunison Creek downstream of the USGS Tunison Aquatic Laboratory. The goal of the survey was to characterize the source ecological community at multiple trophic or taxonomic levels by associating DNA fragments with reference databases. Three taxonomically informative genetic loci were used: the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 locus, the mitochondria
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Fort Collins Science Center

Chelonid Herpesvirus 5 (ChHV5) genomic sequences obtained through long-range PCR and high throughput sequencing from Florida and Hawaii green sea turtles with fibropapillomatosis

The files in this data release are the processed DNA consensus sequence alignment files for the chelonid herpesvirus 5 (ChHV-5) genome plus 66 open reading frames representing protien-coding genes. DNA was extracted from tumor biopsies from green sea turtles (Chelonias mydas) with fibropapillomatosis sampled from Florida and Hawaii coastal waters. We used high-throughput short-read sequencing (Ill
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Eastern Ecological Science Center
Filter Total Items: 38

The bee microbiome: Impact on bee health and model for evolution and ecology of host-microbe interactions

As pollinators, bees are cornerstones for terrestrial ecosystem stability and key components in agricultural productivity. All animals, including bees, are associated with a diverse community of microbes, commonly referred to as the microbiome. The bee microbiome is likely to be a crucial factor affecting host health. However, with the exception of a few pathogens, the impacts of most members of t
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Ecosystems, Fort Collins Science Center

Genomic single-nucleotide polymorphisms confirm that Gunnison and Greater sage-grouse are genetically well differentiated and that the Bi-State population is distinct

Sage-grouse are iconic, declining inhabitants of sagebrush habitats in western North America, and their management depends on an understanding of genetic variation across the landscape. Two distinct species of sage-grouse have been recognized, Greater (Centrocercus urophasianus) and Gunnison sage-grouse (C. minimus), based on morphology, behavior, and variation at neutral genetic markers. A parapa
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Ecosystems, Sage-grouse & Sagebrush Ecosystem, Fort Collins Science Center

Transcriptome resources for the frogs <i>Lithobates clamitans</i> and <i>Pseudacris regilla</i>, emphasizing antimicrobial peptides and conserved loci for phylogenetics

We developed genetic resources for two North American frogs, Lithobates clamitans and Pseudacris regilla, widespread native amphibians that are potential indicator species of environmental health. For both species, mRNA from multiple tissues was sequenced using 454 technology. De novo assemblies with Mira3 resulted in 50 238 contigs (N50 = 687 bp) and 48 213 contigs (N50 = 686 bp) for L. clamitans
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Ecosystems

Z chromosome divergence, polymorphism and relative effective population size in a genus of lekking birds

Sex chromosomes contribute disproportionately to species boundaries as they diverge faster than autosomes and often have reduced diversity. Their hemizygous nature contributes to faster divergence and reduced diversity, as do some types of selection. In birds, other factors (mating system and bottlenecks) can further decrease the effective population size of Z-linked loci and accelerate divergence
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Ecosystems, Sage-grouse & Sagebrush Ecosystem, Fort Collins Science Center

Characterization of a novel hepadnavirus in the white sucker (<i>Catostomus commersonii</i>) from the Great Lakes Region of the USA

The white sucker Catostomus commersonii is a freshwater teleost often utilized as a resident sentinel. Here, we sequenced the full genome of a hepatitis B-like virus that infects white suckers from the Great Lakes Region of the USA. Dideoxysequencing confirmed the white sucker hepatitis B virus (WSHBV) has a circular genome (3542 bp) with the prototypical codon organization of hepadnaviruses. Elec
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Ecosystems, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Fish & Wildlife Disease, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Western Fisheries Research Center, Fish Health Program (FHP)

Taxonomic characterization of honey bee (<i>Apis mellifera</i>) pollen foraging based on non-overlapping paired-end sequencing of nuclear ribosomal loci

Identifying plant taxa that honey bees (Apis mellifera) forage upon is of great apicultural interest, but traditional methods are labor intensive and may lack resolution. Here we evaluate a high-throughput genetic barcoding approach to characterize trap-collected pollen from multiple North Dakota apiaries across multiple years. We used the Illumina MiSeq platform to generate sequence scaffolds fro
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Ecosystems, Energy & Wildlife, Fort Collins Science Center, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Critical considerations for the application of environmental DNA methods to detect aquatic species

Species detection using environmental DNA (eDNA) has tremendous potential for contributing to the understanding of the ecology and conservation of aquatic species. Detecting species using eDNA methods, rather than directly sampling the organisms, can reduce impacts on sensitive species and increase the power of field surveys for rare and elusive species. The sensitivity of eDNA methods, however, r
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Ecosystems, Fort Collins Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Transcriptomic analysis of the mussel <i>Elliptio complanata</i> identifies candidate stress-response genes and an abundance of novel or noncoding transcripts

Mussels are useful indicator species of environmental stress and degradation, and the global decline in freshwater mussel diversity and abundance is of conservation concern. Elliptio complanata is a common freshwater mussel of eastern North America that can serve both as an indicator and as an experimental model for understanding mussel physiology and genetics. To support genetic components of the
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Ecosystems, Cooperative Research Units, Fort Collins Science Center

Available genetic data do not support adaptation of <i>Tobacco ringspot virus</i> to an arthropod host

No abstract available.
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Ecosystems, Fort Collins Science Center

Relative abundance of deformed wing virus, Varroa destructor virus 1, and their recombinants in honey bees (Apis mellifera) assessed by kmer analysis of public RNA-Seq data

Deformed wing virus (DWV) is a major pathogen of concern to apiculture, and recent reports have indicated the local predominance and potential virulence of recombinants between DWV and a related virus, Varroa destructor virus 1 (VDV). However, little is known about the frequency and titer of VDV and recombinants relative to DWV generally. In this study, I assessed the relative occurrence and titer
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Ecosystems, Fort Collins Science Center

Draft genome sequence of a picorna-like virus associated with gill tissue in clinically normal brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis

Here, we report a draft genome sequence of a picorna-like virus associated with brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, gill tissue. The draft genome comprises 8,681 nucleotides, excluding the poly(A) tract, and contains two open reading frames. It is most similar to picorna-like viruses that infect invertebrates.
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center

RNA sequencing analysis of transcriptional change in the freshwater mussel Elliptio complanata after environmentally relevant sodium chloride exposure

To identify potential biomarkers of salt stress in a freshwater sentinel species, we examined transcriptional responses of the common mussel Elliptio complanata to controlled sodium chloride (NaCl) exposures. Ribonucleic acid sequencing (RNA-Seq) of mantle tissue identified 481 transcripts differentially expressed in adult mussels exposed to 2 ppt NaCl (1.2 ppt chloride) for 7 d, of which 290 had
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Ecosystems, Eastern Ecological Science Center

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