Developed a biologically informed theoretical model showing how seminal fluid proteins synchronize sperm and egg release, reducing unfertilized egg production. Identified SP exhaustion as the key synchronization signal and demonstrated that sexual conflict over SP-mediated regulation of female physiology should be limited, though conflict over optimal remating rate remains possible.
Showed that immune activation modulates wound-induced ectopic eyespot formation in butterfly wings, revealing crosstalk between immune function and pigmentation development.
Developed a within-host infection model integrating theory and experiments to distinguish between tolerance and resistance mechanisms. Provided a practical experimental framework for explaining individual differences in susceptibility to infection, a methodological foundation applied in subsequent work.
Based on a recent phylogeny, we identified that Daphnia had among the smallest recorded sperm and studied the evolution of sperm length in this clade.
Recommendation: https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.evolbiol.100145
We tested the effects of circadian temperature fluctuations on a series of thermal plasticity traits in a model of adaptive seasonal plasticity, the Bicyclus anynana butterfly.
Within-host bacterial adaptations are generally focused on antibiotic resistance, rarely on the adaptation to the environment given by the host, and the potential trade-off hindering adaptations to each step of the infection are rarely considered. Using Drosophila melanogaster as host and the bacteria Xenorhabdus nematophila, we studied those trade-offs that are key to understand intra-host evolution, and thus the dynamics of the infection.
Our data from the field show that sexual selection is present in Daphnia, although it is mainly parthenogenetic, and that this selection probably manifests itself through a combination of female choice and male competition.
We found that, in black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) chicks, associations between MHC class-II diversity and fitness vary with sex and hatching order.
To understand the mechanisms of antagonistic coevolution, it is crucial to identify the genetics of parasite resistance. Using QTL approach, we discovered a second P. ramosa attachment site and a novel host-resistance locus, with implications for both for the coevolutionary dynamics (e.g., Red Queen and the role of recombination), and for the evolution and epidemiology of the infection process.