The marvellous variety of life on Earth, particularly in the marine realm, fascinates and motivates us. We are interested in understanding how biological and environmental processes within and among individuals, populations, or species constrain or facilitate the evolution of diversity at different levels of biological organisation, space, and time.
Such knowledge is also urgently needed for effective wildlife management strategies to preserve this essential biological richness for future generations.
Reaching a comprehensive understanding of how evolution works requires transdisciplinary approaches and perspectives. We appreciate and integrate insights from genomics, bioinformatics, ecology, behaviour, morphology, physiology, and beyond.
Such knowledge is also urgently needed for effective wildlife management strategies to preserve this essential biological richness for future generations.
Reaching a comprehensive understanding of how evolution works requires transdisciplinary approaches and perspectives. We appreciate and integrate insights from genomics, bioinformatics, ecology, behaviour, morphology, physiology, and beyond.
Some of the key questions that we address and related running projects:
Outreach & community science How can we raise public awareness and engagement about biodiversity and evolution? How can citizens directly and effectively contribute to scientific research? Strengthening ties between community members, scientists, and stakeholders. Don't miss our initiatives here! |
Informing wildlife conservation Why do some populations or species fail (e.g., extinctions) while others thrive (e.g., biological invasions)? Can we predict species' responses to novel environmental challenges? Investigating the fundamental processes leading to biodiversity loss, particularly biological invasions and genomic erosion in endangered species. Stay tuned to the FIASCO activities here! |
Genetic erosion in non-model organisms How to assess the conservation status of wild populations that often lack key information (e.g., census size, direct fitness estimates)? What are the genomic consequences of population declines? Developing theoretical and bioinformatics approaches for improved indices of population diversity and health. Check the ENDEMIXIT project here! |
The evolution of reproductive isolation How do populations diverge in absence of obvious isolation and adapt to local habitats? Why do some species speciate even in sympatry and others do not? Analysing multiple traits and their genomic architecture to uncover divergence and adaptation in study models of sympatric speciation. Littorina's answers to these questions can be followed here! |
The basis of complex traits How do complex traits emerge, evolve, and contribute to individual, population, and species’ fitness? To what extent are behavioral and cognitive repertoires inherited? Exploring the underpinnings of natural variation in complex traits such as lateralised behaviour, locomotory performances, and learning in wild populations. |