Biodiversity and Evolution

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Our research is located at the intersection of biodiversity science, ecology and evolution. We investigate the relationships among organisms and their local environments, and we strive to understand how ecological interactions and evolutionary processes shape biodiversity in the broadest sense, covering genetic, phenotypic, species and ecosystem diversity

Two damselflies are united with their abdomens. Photo. — Common Bluetail Damselfly (*Ischnura elegans*): male and female mating in the field. This species shows extensive intra- and intersexual variation in colouration, and the genomic basis and fitness consequences of such variation is subject to ongoing research. Photo: Erik Svensson.

Exploring ecological interactions

A major goal with our research is to understand the evolutionary origin and societal consequences of ecological interactions among organisms. Such ecological interactions include those between plants and their pollinators, between predators and their prey, between different hybridising species but also intra-specific interactions, such as mating interactions between the sexes. Our study organisms are highly diverse and include vascular and non-vascular plants, insects, amphibians, and birds. Our research sheds light not only on the causes of species richness in local communities in nature and the functions of ecosystems, but also on the consequences of biodiversity loss, and how biodiversity can be conserved now and in the future – for its own value and for the benefit of humans.

Genetic variation and development in evolution

Major questions in evolutionary biology are the origin and consequences of genetic variation and the causes of phenotypic sex differences, particularly the role of sexually antagonistic genetic variation. Sexually antagonistic genes and traits may hold the key to one of the long-standing paradoxes in evolutionary biology: the maintenance of standing genetic variation, such as phenotypic polymorphisms involved in sexual conflict and sexual selection.

Two fruit flies against a dark background. Photo. — Common fruitfly (*Drosophila melanogaster*): a model organism in sexual selection and sexual conflict which is used in experimental evolution research. Pre-mating interactions with a male following a female, displaying his wing colours. Photo: Qinyang Li.

We study the role of sexually antagonistic variation in laboratory populations of fruit flies and flatworms, in colour polymorphisms in natural populations of insects and lizards, and via the evolution of dioecy in plants. The genetic and genomic basis of such polymorphisms, and their developmental basis are other the questions that we are interested in.

We strive to understand not only the maintenance and fitness consequences of genetic and phenotypic variation, but also its evolutionary origin. Traits that we focus on include size, shape, colouration and behaviours. We explore how genome duplications affect plant adaptation and diversification and the consequences for their insect pollinators, the origin and evolution of sex chromosomes, the genomic consequences of hybridisation for speciation and the relative roles of evolvability versus standing genetic variation as fuel for evolutionary change.

Bridging ecology and evolution in plants and animals

One of our major goals is to understand the causes of biodiversity dynamics on local, regional and global scales and on both ecological and evolutionary time scales, not the least to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

Our research bridges zoology and botany and we integrate from multiple fields and research approaches. Our approaches include laboratory and field experiments, and we use tools from chemical ecology, evolutionary developmental biology, genomics, landscape ecology, image analysis, life-history evolution, mathematical modelling, molecular ecology, systematics, phylogenetics and phylogenomics, population biology and quantitative genetics. Our research covers biodiversity dynamics across multiple scales, ranging from genes to ecosystems.

Some questions that we address are the evolution of plant mating systems, the extent of local adaptation, the importance and consequences of gene flow and movement of individuals between populations and the maintenance of phenotypic and genetic variation by balancing selection. Other research questions are related to the effects of pesticides on pollinators, restoration of habitats for threatened species, conservation genomics, long-term population monitoring programs of birds and insects, and the societal consequences of climate and land-use driven biodiversity loss and how to reverse it. We further investigate the global and regional evolutionary radiations of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) and lizards (Podarcis).

In summary, the research in our division elucidates not only the evolutionary origins but also the ecological and societal implications of biodiversity. Research on the evolutionary origins of ecological interactions and their manifestations in ecosystems and the genomic basis of the phenotypic traits behind these interactions and consequences for ecosystem functions provide a rich knowledge base for both basic and applied biodiversity science.