Illuminating range shifts through evolutionary FIASCO*:
contrasting FaIling And Successful ColOnizations in replicated wild populations
A joint effort among the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, University of Ferrara, and other national and international researchers coordinated by Francesca Raffini and funded by the European Union - Next Generation EU
*What is a fiasco?
In Italian, a fiasco is literally a bottle (a flask encased in a straw basket, see the picture below) but it has also a figurative meaning: an utter failure. The linguistic evolution of fiasco from flask to flop is still obscure, similarly to our understanding of the evolution of ecological success in small populations, that will be addressed by the FIASCO project.
Project overview
Anthropogenic disturbances and climate changes can lead to rapid population declines, shifted geographic distributions, or adaptation to new conditions. The drivers and implications of this disparity in species’ responses remain puzzling. We explore the evolutionary mechanisms underlying range shifts by contrasting naturally replicated dispersal events in a marine snail. We leverage multidimensional information from whole genomes including chromosomal structural variants, phenotypic traits, and local habitats to clarify why some range shifts succeeded while others ended in a fiasco, advancing our understanding of the drivers of ecological success.
These findings will contribute to the urgently needed improvement of knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms that originate and maintain biodiversity to inform effective actions in wildlife management.
Our results will be disseminated to the scientific community, stakeholders, and citizens to draw attention to biodiversity research, increase social trust, and build resilience against the global decline of biodiversity, economy, and society.
These findings will contribute to the urgently needed improvement of knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms that originate and maintain biodiversity to inform effective actions in wildlife management.
Our results will be disseminated to the scientific community, stakeholders, and citizens to draw attention to biodiversity research, increase social trust, and build resilience against the global decline of biodiversity, economy, and society.
Littorina saxatilis in the Swedish shore. Picture courtesy of Daria Shipilina
people
In alphabetical order
Funding
The FIASCO project "Illuminating range shifts through evolutionary FIASCO:contrasting FaIling And Successful ColOnizations in replicated wild populations" has been funded by the European Union - Next Generation EU (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza - MUR code: P202229JBC, CUP: C53D23007100001).
The marine snail Littorina saxatilis in the Venice Lagoon, Italy. Picture courtesy of Diego Fernando Garcia Castillo
News
fiasco Midterm review
January 2025
Already time for the FIASCO 🐚🌊🗺🧳🧬 midterm review 🧐 with the help of the whole Littorina Research Community and some fun caption bloopers (skerry -> scary, geometric morphometric -> German diplometric 😂). ⌛⏱️ flies when enjoying such great 🧑🎓🧑🎓🧑🎓 and 🐌🐌🐌! Some of us enjoyed a traditional LRC hike in the snowy Sheffield. Beatrice and David did a terrific job in presenting and discussing our advancements and future directions. Looking forward to a thrilling 2025!
Already time for the FIASCO 🐚🌊🗺🧳🧬 midterm review 🧐 with the help of the whole Littorina Research Community and some fun caption bloopers (skerry -> scary, geometric morphometric -> German diplometric 😂). ⌛⏱️ flies when enjoying such great 🧑🎓🧑🎓🧑🎓 and 🐌🐌🐌! Some of us enjoyed a traditional LRC hike in the snowy Sheffield. Beatrice and David did a terrific job in presenting and discussing our advancements and future directions. Looking forward to a thrilling 2025!
PPG58
January 2025
Our David and gigantic snail attended the 58th Population Genetics Group meeting in a snowy Sheffield, UK supported by NextGenEU, MUR and the Genetics Society. Lots of fun, great science and scientists, and good wine!
Our David and gigantic snail attended the 58th Population Genetics Group meeting in a snowy Sheffield, UK supported by NextGenEU, MUR and the Genetics Society. Lots of fun, great science and scientists, and good wine!
Pictures courtesy of David Carmelet Rescan and Luisa Kumpitsch; word cloud from the PPG58 website.
travel grant to david
December 2024
David obtained his first travel grant; congratulations! We are grateful to the Genetics Society for its support to present FIASCO to the 58th Meeting of the Population Genetics Group in Sheffield in January 2025. Don't miss his poster!
David obtained his first travel grant; congratulations! We are grateful to the Genetics Society for its support to present FIASCO to the 58th Meeting of the Population Genetics Group in Sheffield in January 2025. Don't miss his poster!
Generated with AI
Press coverage on fiasco and ww
September 2024
Our marine snail is not doing a fiasco in the Italian news! See the press coverage in Pikaia, Kodami, and ScubaPortal - in Italian only, sorry.
Our marine snail is not doing a fiasco in the Italian news! See the press coverage in Pikaia, Kodami, and ScubaPortal - in Italian only, sorry.
Picture courtesy of Ruth Turunen
Sibe2024 is coming
August 2024
Looking forward to the 10th SIBE-ISEB Congress that we host in Naples in few weeks! Many interesting contributions, friends to catch up with, and opportunities to have fun with scientists and citizens (details here). Spoiler: great view on the gulf!
Francesca and Roberto are beyond than happy and honoured to be part of the organising and scientific commitee, chair the symposium on "The wild side of population genomics" (program here), and that the wonderful Joana Isabel Meier is opening it!
Looking forward to the 10th SIBE-ISEB Congress that we host in Naples in few weeks! Many interesting contributions, friends to catch up with, and opportunities to have fun with scientists and citizens (details here). Spoiler: great view on the gulf!
Francesca and Roberto are beyond than happy and honoured to be part of the organising and scientific commitee, chair the symposium on "The wild side of population genomics" (program here), and that the wonderful Joana Isabel Meier is opening it!
ww - Winklewatch: a community science project on snail colour
July 2024
Why are periwinkles 🌊🐚 so colourful🌈? Is this related to adaptation to local environments and colonisation success?
Help us finding this out and become a WinkleWatcher! How? Check our website: https://littorina.at.biopolis.pt/winklewatch
We call both scientists and non-scientists 🤝💪 from across the species distribution range (see the blue areas in the map below) to submit images of their local snails in order to spark curiosity about colour evolution and gather a large dataset.
Why are periwinkles 🌊🐚 so colourful🌈? Is this related to adaptation to local environments and colonisation success?
Help us finding this out and become a WinkleWatcher! How? Check our website: https://littorina.at.biopolis.pt/winklewatch
We call both scientists and non-scientists 🤝💪 from across the species distribution range (see the blue areas in the map below) to submit images of their local snails in order to spark curiosity about colour evolution and gather a large dataset.
Getting BOLD: our recording adventure
July 2024
The team is working hard to test different setups to measure behavioural differences such as boldness in our snail. We are playing around with camera angles, animal containers, lighting, zoom levels, and other video settings. By using video recordings instead of watching the animals directly, we are making sure that our results are super repeatable and efficient, and avoiding any sneaky biases. This way, we can capture the boldness of these little creatures effectively every time!
The team is working hard to test different setups to measure behavioural differences such as boldness in our snail. We are playing around with camera angles, animal containers, lighting, zoom levels, and other video settings. By using video recordings instead of watching the animals directly, we are making sure that our results are super repeatable and efficient, and avoiding any sneaky biases. This way, we can capture the boldness of these little creatures effectively every time!
Pictures courtesy of David Carmelet Rescan
p.s. Have you noticed that the snail in the pics is not L. saxatilis? We’re using former data and another species from aquaculture to avoid affecting natural populations. The last step will be to test the optimized protocol in our target snail.
The greatest northern snail
June 2024
We successfully got our first thriving natural population from collaborators! Where do these snail come from? Hint 1: we're in Europe. Hint 2: there is still some snow in summer. Hint 3: they are the northernmost snail of our sampling design. Hint 4: we're very grateful to our teammates at the Nord University (Bodo, Norway).
Can you spot the Littorina snail in the pictures below?
We successfully got our first thriving natural population from collaborators! Where do these snail come from? Hint 1: we're in Europe. Hint 2: there is still some snow in summer. Hint 3: they are the northernmost snail of our sampling design. Hint 4: we're very grateful to our teammates at the Nord University (Bodo, Norway).
Can you spot the Littorina snail in the pictures below?
Pictures courtesy of Bingqian Han
Getting ready for fieldwork
June 2024
Fieldwork starts in the lab! Less exciting tasks, such as filling 3000 microtubes (with what? Coming soon!), are necessary for sampling expeditions but can be fun thanks to teamwork. After pouring lab glassware with reagents, it's time to empty the cocktail bottles! A huge thank you to all the volunteers that contributed to this crucial step!
Fieldwork starts in the lab! Less exciting tasks, such as filling 3000 microtubes (with what? Coming soon!), are necessary for sampling expeditions but can be fun thanks to teamwork. After pouring lab glassware with reagents, it's time to empty the cocktail bottles! A huge thank you to all the volunteers that contributed to this crucial step!
ECCB24 talk
June 2024
Seahorses and snails colonised the Erudite, the Red, and the Fat town (Bologna, Italy) to give birth to effective conservation indications to protect marine biodiversity at ECCB2024 (official website here). Great time, scientists, and food at Francesca's birthplace!
Seahorses and snails colonised the Erudite, the Red, and the Fat town (Bologna, Italy) to give birth to effective conservation indications to protect marine biodiversity at ECCB2024 (official website here). Great time, scientists, and food at Francesca's birthplace!
funded phd position available
May 2024
Open fully funded (salary + project + registration fees) PhD opportunity! Be a part of our team, pursuing a PhD at Stazione Zoologica Anton Dorhn & Open University, and collaborating with passionate experts. Let's work together to make a difference! Details here.
Open fully funded (salary + project + registration fees) PhD opportunity! Be a part of our team, pursuing a PhD at Stazione Zoologica Anton Dorhn & Open University, and collaborating with passionate experts. Let's work together to make a difference! Details here.
Welcome David
April 2024
We are thrilled to have David join the FIASCO team. Welcome!
David, a postdoctoral researcher at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Italy), brings his passion for understanding the intricate relationships between species and their environments. With a keen interest in combining genomic and ecological tools to answer evolutionary questions, David’s interest lies in the underlying genetic and ecological mechanisms shaping biodiversity.
We are thrilled to have David join the FIASCO team. Welcome!
David, a postdoctoral researcher at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Italy), brings his passion for understanding the intricate relationships between species and their environments. With a keen interest in combining genomic and ecological tools to answer evolutionary questions, David’s interest lies in the underlying genetic and ecological mechanisms shaping biodiversity.
Biodiversity in the anthropocene symposium
April 2024
It has been very nice to meet researchers committed to understanding biodiversity changes in the Anthropocene and share our insights on improving its assessment and management using seahorses as a study case at the "Cambiamento della biodiversità nell’Antropocene: priorità per la Ricerca" symposium (details and talks' video here).
It has been very nice to meet researchers committed to understanding biodiversity changes in the Anthropocene and share our insights on improving its assessment and management using seahorses as a study case at the "Cambiamento della biodiversità nell’Antropocene: priorità per la Ricerca" symposium (details and talks' video here).
Pictures courtesy of Stefano Goffredo and the symposium organisers
Welcome Roberto
March 2024
A warm welcome to Roberto on the FIASCO team!
He is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ferrara (Italy). His research interests focus on studying the demographic and evolutionary processes affecting populations and species of conservation concern. He finds great excitement in the use of genetic and genomic approaches to reconstruct patterns at the population level and explore mechanisms related to local adaptation, life history evolution, and wildlife conservation.
A warm welcome to Roberto on the FIASCO team!
He is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ferrara (Italy). His research interests focus on studying the demographic and evolutionary processes affecting populations and species of conservation concern. He finds great excitement in the use of genetic and genomic approaches to reconstruct patterns at the population level and explore mechanisms related to local adaptation, life history evolution, and wildlife conservation.
join us! two open positions
December 2023
We are looking for two 2-years researchers! Join us at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Naples, Italy) and the University of Ferrara (Ferrara, Italy) to explore the evolutionary processes underlying range shifts in a marine snail in the fully funded FIASCO project. Details here.
We are looking for two 2-years researchers! Join us at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Naples, Italy) and the University of Ferrara (Ferrara, Italy) to explore the evolutionary processes underlying range shifts in a marine snail in the fully funded FIASCO project. Details here.
Welcome beatrice
December 2023
The FIASCO team is growing! We are happy to welcome Beatrice.
She is a PhD student in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology at the University of Ferrara (Italy). She is investigating the potential accumulation of deleterious mutations in the genomes of individuals from small populations, with a focus on structural variants.
The FIASCO team is growing! We are happy to welcome Beatrice.
She is a PhD student in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology at the University of Ferrara (Italy). She is investigating the potential accumulation of deleterious mutations in the genomes of individuals from small populations, with a focus on structural variants.
FIASCO HAS a logo and webpage
here comes the Fiasco project