Do you want to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms that underpin the diversification of species and the phylogenetic structure of emerging clades? This is possible through a modeling project that aims at combining an explicit genetic architecture and a trait-based eco-evolutionary model of adaptive radiations.
Duration: 30-60 credits, preferably on MSc level.
Starting date: flexible
Required qualifications: Highly motivated students with a keen interest in eco-evolutionary interactions as well as good computer skills and interest in mathematical modeling and computer programing.
The project will be part of a larger research program that aims to enable i) a better understanding of observed diversity gradients, ii) quantification of eco-evolutionary processes that structure natural communities and iii) investigation of the mechanistic (e.g. genetics and genotype to phenotype mapping) underpinning of diversification and phylogenetic patterns. Given this broad context, the student will have the opportunity to plan their own project and work with available individual-based simulation models (IBM’s). The student may, for example, choose to:
- Implement explicit genetics to available trait-based eco-evolutionary IBM’s and study how assortative mating can evolve and ultimately affect genetic and phenotypic divergence between populations.
- Alternatively, the student may want to simulate the assembly of theoretical communities and contrast the genetic and phenotypic structure of communities that are distributed along environmental gradients with different slopes.
Both model implementation and model analysis involves quantitative methods, bioinformatics tools, and programming.
Contact Mikael Pontarp (mikael.pontarp@biol.lu.se) for more information and planning.