The Project
Speciation and evolution in hybrid zones.
Winner
Dr Anna Qvarnström
Animal Ecology/ Department of Ecology and Evolution
Evolutionary Biology Centre
University of Uppsala
Norbyvägen 18 D
SE-721 36 Uppsala
Sweden
Anna Qvarnström, aged 39, is Assistant Professor at the section of Animal Ecology in Uppsala’s Evolutionary Biology Centre. This is Scandinavia’s largest evolutionary center and was the logical choice for this EURYI project because of its expertise in all relevant fields of biology, which are all integrated within a well-focused and developed research and PhD programme. Qvarnström graduated in biology at Uppsala University and stayed there for her Ph.D in 1998, with her thesis on sexual selection in the collared flycatcher. She spent one year at the University of California at San Diego, USA. This set the scene for her subsequent research at Uppsala, with continued work on the flycatcher as a model for studying speciation and competition between closely related species. She recently established a study population of flycatchers that will be used for this EURYI project.
She said: “I am thrilled to receive this substantial award. This will give me the resources I need to build on the work I have already started with my model flycatcher population.”
Provisional Award
€ 1,248,000
Project Description
Speciation, the formation of new species, lies at the heart of evolution and is the driving force behind biodiversity. Yet many central questions remain unsolved because the timescales involved are usually too long for theoretical models to be tested empirically. It is true that laboratory studies using animals with short generation time have increased our general knowledge about the initial conditions required for speciation to begin, but questions regarding mechanisms that facilitate and drive speciation can only be investigated in the wild. There are few suitable study systems available in nature, so Qvarnström recently established a unique model population in a hybrid zone comprising collared and pied flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis and F.hypoleuca). This project will combine field experiments with recently developed mathematical models, along with methods of quantitative and molecular genetics with four objectives:
- To investigate the role of learning and phenotypic plasticity as driving forces of genetic evolution and speciation.
- Elucidate links between sources of disruptive selection and pre-zygotic isolation, which lies at the heart of models of adaptive speciation.
- Establish the relative importance of, and interaction between, cultural and genetic inheritance of traits involved in pre and post zygotic isolation.
- Apply the QTL* (Quantitative Trait Loci) mapping approach to a natural study system in order to localise multiple loci that cause ecological differences between species.
This project has the potential to lead to several novel insights concerning speciation, and to maintain Europe’s position at the forefront of this field.
*QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) mapping is a statistical method for locating genomic regions that are subject to selective pressures.
