From microevolutionary processes to macroevolutionary diversification and community dynamics in an old insect group

My overarching goal is to understand the origin, maintenance and microevolution of intraspecific phenotypic variation and link this variation to macroevolutionary diversification, speciation, extinction and community dynamics.

I will use study systems of discrete and heritable phenotypic polymorphisms in the insect order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) that I have developed over the past two decades.

I propose an integrative research program combining experimental ecology, evolutionary biology, phylogenetic comparative methods and genomics.The research is organized in four interconnected  subprojects.

In Subproject 1, I will study how interactions between abiotic  (temperature) and biotic factors (male mating harassment)  shape frequency-dependent selection on a female-limited colour polymorphism in damselflies in natural populations.

In Subproject 2, I will study the mechanistic and genomic basis of trait divergence between the three female colour morphs in this species and quantify correlational selection.

In Subproject 3 I will carry out mesocosm experiments, where I manipulate morph frequencies and evaluate how frequency-dependent selection operates across the entire life-cycle and affects population fitness.

Finally, in Supproject 4, I will use phylogenetic comparative methods to study the macroevolutionary dynamics of such female colour polymorphisms using data from >650 species and a new time-calibrated molecular phylogeny that we have developed in my laboratory.