Evolution - Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD)
Evolutionary biology
The aim of this research area is to improve our understanding of phenotypic evolution in fluctuating environments.
Main questions
- How does age structure of natural population affect the evolutionary response to selection when accounting for demographic stochasticity?
- How does density-dependent selection affect phenotypic evolution in fluctuating environments?
- Does the rate of phenotypic evolution depend on the position of the species along the slow-fast continuum of life history variation?
- How are the different components of phenotypic variation affected by fluctuating selection?
- How does correlation among traits affect the evolutionary response of complex characters?
We use both theoretical and empirical approaches to answer these questions, combining field observations with experimental approaches on various model systems. The research area has five research groups.
Projects
- Evolutionary responses to variable and unpredictable environments
- Inbreeding depression in nature - the genetic architecture, environment and immunity
- DNA methylation and its role in regulating seasonal timing of reproduction and phenotypic plasticity
- Knowledge Based Non-Stationary Modeling.
Statistics and stochastic modelling
Aim: To develop theories for the dynamics of populations, phenotypes and communities in fluctuating environments.
- Professor Jarle Tufto
- Professor Steinar Engen
- Professor Russell Lande
- Postdoc Ane Marlene Myhre
- PhD candidate Shelly Cao
Adaptations to (un)predictable environmental change
Aim: To explore adaptive evolution in fluctuating environments.
- Professor Jon Wright
- Postdoc Yimen Araya-Ajoy
- PhD candidate Mette H. Finnøen
Evolutionary dynamics of quantitative traits
Aim: To develop and test models on the effects of the genetic architecture of complex characters on their evolutionary dynamics in fluctuating environments.
- Professor Christophe Pélabon
- Professor Gunilla Rosenqvist
- Researcher Geir Hysing Bolstad
- PhD candidate Elena Albertsen
- PhD candidate Christopher H. Hilde
Modelling behaviour in stochastic environments
Aim: To use modelling to explore behavioural strategies and plasticity in stochastic environments
- Researcher Irja Ida Ratikainen
- Assistant professor Martin Lind
- PhD candidate Thomas R. Haaland
Linking ecological and genetic dynamics
Aim: To improve our understanding of interactions between ecological and genetic dynamics.
- Associate Professor Henrik Jensen
- Associate Professor Thor Harald Ringsby
- Professor Stig W. Omholt
- Associate Professor Arild Husby
- Associate Professor Michael D. Martin
- Professor Ingelin Steinsland
- Postdoc Alina Niskanen
- PhD candidate Peter Sjolte Ranke
- PhD candidate Sarah Lundregan
- PhD candidate Sindre L. Sommerli
- PhD candidate Dilan Saatoglu
- PhD candidate Maria L. Selle
- PhD candidate Michael Pepke Pedersen
- PhD candidate Ådne Messel Nafstad
- PhD candidate Fabian L. Kellner
- Researcher Ingerid Julie Hagen
- Senior engineer Henrik Pärn