U of I Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB) student Sarah A. Hendricks' research on Northwest wolf populations was recently featured by Northwest Public Broadcasting (NWPB), the regional NPR station based in Pullman. The article details Hendricks' findings, recently published on Nature.com, that modern Northwest wolf populations descended from two distinct groups – one from the northern Rocky Mountains and one from coastal rain forests along Canada's west coast and southeast Alaska. According to Hendricks, these findings could be significant when it comes to legislation surrounding species with mixed ancestry, especially if one entity is a member of the Endangered Species List. "We are currently lacking legal terminology dealing with admixed populations,” she said. “This case example shows why it's important to add specific language to properly manage them.”