DFG funds our research on chicken translocations in Island SE Asia

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DFG funding awarded for research on the history of chicken translocations across Island Southeast Asia

The aim of this new project is to uncover how human-mediated chicken translocations have shaped biodiversity across the islands of Wallacea and Island Southeast Asia (ISEA). Chickens have been moved across this region for thousands of years, yet the origins, dispersal routes, and ecological consequences of feral chicken populations across the islands of Wallacea remain largely unknown. Feral chickens are now widespread across Wallacean islands well beyond the native range of any wild species, and their interactions with native junglefowl raise important questions for both biodiversity conservation and sustainable livestock development.

The project, led by Dr Rosie Drinkwater, will address this knowledge gap by analysing historical and modern whole genomes of wild, feral, village, and domestic chickens from across ISEA. By sequencing DNA from museum specimens dating back to the 1800s — a technique known as museomics — alongside modern samples, the project aims to reconstruct the timing and pathways of chicken introductions into the region, quantify the extent of gene flow between domestic and wild Gallus species, and identify genomic signatures of feralisation that may have implications for breeding and food security.

Central to the project is a collaboration with Prof. Gono Semiadi and the Research Centre for Biosystematics and Evolution at BRIN (Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency). Together the project will train researchers and students in museum genomics, bioinformatics, and ancient DNA methods to foster long-term genomic research capacity in Indonesia.