Associate Senior Lecturer in Biodiversity at Lund University

I broadly interested in how novel adaptation arise, in particular the genomic changes enabling adaptation. Using a range of methods and study systems I address the question about the changes that selection acts on, enabling evolutionary adaptation. My current projects range from the role of hybridization in producing novel variation for selection to act on, the genomic changes enabling a host plant shift, and how anthropogenic changes erodes the genetic diversity necessary for adaptation in pollinators. Finally, I collaborate closely with Magne Friberg to disentangle the genomic basis of the scent variation mediating plant-pollinator interactions in Arabis alpina and Lithophragma bolanderi. I combine field studies and sampling with bioinformatical analysis of DNA, RNA and museum DNA to find out about the changes that underly evolutionary change.

I am an evolutionary ecologist. I use floral trait diversity, both across and within species, as a jumping off point for asking questions in ecology and evolutionary biology across scales of biological organization, from genomics and plant metabolism to species interactions across communities. At a broad scale, I am interested in the processes that generate and maintain biodiversity in ecological communities, and in the repeatability of evolution across environments. In the Runemark lab, and in collaboration with Dr. Magne Friberg, I am working to understand the causes and consequences of variation in a complex floral trait—floral scent—from genomic underpinnings to ecological drivers. Outside of the lab, I enjoy swimming laps, chasing after my young son, and sampling Swedish pastries.

I use genomic data to study the effect of gene flow between populations and species. The patterns of gene flow we observe in nature can tell us about the quality of the landscape populations live in, for example by showing us where individuals can travel between nature patches, and where they cannot. The exchange of genes between populations or species is vital, as it might provide the genetic diversity necessary for adaptation to changing environmental conditions. My research focusses on non-model organisms, including insects, plants, amphibians and reptiles. My current main project concerns research on pollinator population connectivity in Sweden, with opportunities for students to work on insect population genetics and museomics.

I study evolution and plasticity in response to variable environments. For my PhD I focused on the constraints – genetic, environmental, behavioral – contributing to persistent maladaptive use of an invasive host plant by a native insect. More recently, I have been investigating differences in gene expression and alternative splicing in phenotypically plastic traits, such as seasonal polyphenisms, facultative diapause, and diet generalization. So far I’ve used butterflies for all of my work, and I’m excited to be switching things up a little by working with peacock flies in the Runemark lab. In collaboration with other lab members, I will be investigating the gene expression of flies specializing on different thistle species, especially during the sensitive larval stages.

While being broadly interested in ecology and evolution, my focus tends to lean towards insects and how they adapt to a changing world. Insects represent a huge part of biodiversity on the planet, and they are amazing systems to use for asking evolutionary questions.
In my doctoral project I investigate how adaptation to a novel niche can affect divergence, both morphologically and genetically. By combining modern techniques of whole genome sequence analysis and morphometric comparisons I will describe the evolutionary and ecological processes, the coding genetic landscapes and the expression profile associated with a recent niche change in a specialist insect.
Specifically, I am interested in the genetic architecture of host plant adaptation following a partial host shift in Tephritis conura, a phytophagous fly strongly dependent on its host. I will use already existing whole genome resequencing data from several populations from each host race of T. conura to investigate what genomic regions are associated with host plant specialization. I will also combine genomic and morphometric data to investigate the effect of sympatry with the other host race on divergence. Finally, I will use gene expression data to address what roles coding genetic divergence and regulation of expression have for host plant adaptation.
Additionally, I will use evolvability measurements to investigate if the adaptive potential of a species is reduced following a recent host shift and the population bottle neck this shift implies.

I am interested in how genomics and evolutionary theory can be used to better inform conservation practices. Genetic diversity is one of the three key forms of biodiversity in need of conservation action, and I use whole genomic methods to assess how genetic diversity is affected by human associated land use changes. By combining field sampling and museum collections, I assess these changes in diversity in association with land use changes across space and time. On these same populations I use morphometric methods to examine adaptive potential (evolvability) to examine what factors contribute to a population's ability to adapt to further environmental changes.
My current focus is on insect pollinators due to their value to natural communities as well as the ecosystem services they provide to humans.
My background is largely evolutionary in focus, examining topics such as sexually selected behavior in leaf footed cactus bugs, co-evolution of fungus farming mutualisms in ambrosia beetles (University of Florida), the demographic history of a grasshopper species radiation facilitated by sexual selection (Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich), and the changes in orangutan mitochondrial diversity over time using museum specimens (Uppsala University).

I am fascinated by the evolution of novel phenotypes and the underlying evolutionary mechanisms and gene regulatory changes by which evolutionary novelties arise. I am interested in using RNA sequencing data to answer questions in this field and my MSc thesis investigated the evolution of vertebrate retinal cell types by using gene expression data to create phylogenetic trees.
For my PhD project under the supervision of Anna Runemark I will be examining the gene expression in different tissues and organs of the hybrid species the Italian sparrow (Passer italiae). This data will be compared between Italian sparrow populations from different islands where independent hybridisation events have occurred, and also with the parent species, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the Spanish sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis). The goal is to examine how hybridization can lead to novel gene expression in hybrid species.

I am intrigued by how all that marvelous biodiversity around us has evolved, and how different organisms are related to each other. I am currently a PhD student working on a revision of two genera of parasitic wasps, Oomyzus and Quadrastichus, in the family Eulophidae. To resolve the relationships within the two genera, I am working with both morphological and genetic markers. Anna Runemark is co-advisor on this project. Previously, I have worked on a number of projects – most notably I looked into the phylogenetic relationships of the tephritid fly genus Tephritis, as well as the different species' use of host plants, as part of my master thesis. I have also worked as a research and lab assistant, extracting DNA from plants and insects. One of these projects included to genetically determine the closest relatives of the recently extinct Swedish population of Reverdin's blue, Plebejus argyrognomon.

I am originally an ornithologist who started working with insects (tortoise beetle, Cassida viridis) as a research assistant. During this period I realized the benefit of the beetle’s short lifecycle when studying evolution (one of my main interests in biology). This made me pursue the PhD position I started this spring with the tortoise beetles as the study organism. Within my projects I am aiming for better knowledge in natural selection and adaptations between and within wild populations.

I completed my MSc in molecular biology in June 2022, characterising a novel and strangely evasive virus in the green algae Chlamydomonas (Non-detrimental viral infections in cultured algae). In general, I’m interested in the use of molecular methods to study ecological systems as they are in the field, rather than in the laboratory.

My MSc-project is centered around understanding how modern agriculture has reduced connectivity and genetic diversity in pollinators, using Cyaniris semiargus as a model organism. I use whole genome sequencing of both museum samples and modern samples to address to which extent genetic diversity has been lost, and whether population connectivity is lower in contemporary landscapes.

In my first project, I focused on if the same genomic regions of Tephritis conura are involved in adaptation to different thistle species. To address how genomic differentiation develops during the course of speciation, I compared the magnitude and distribution of genomic differentiation between T. conura peacock flies using different host plants (Cirsium heterophyllum and Cirsium palustre) in Scotland and continental separate host races that are specialized on either C. heterophyllum or C. oleraceum.
For my MSc project, I will combine a continuation of my former population genomics project with an analysis of gene expression data from the Scottish populations.