Marine molecular ecology, evolution and genomics

 We study the genetic structure in populations of marine animals, algae and plants and we analyse variation in single genes and over the complete genome to understand mechanisms of evolution and local adaptation.Central issues are how gene and environments interact to produce evolutionary changes of organisms, including local adaptation, evolution of ecotypes and speciation. Much focus is on distinguishing signals of natural selection from patterns expected from stochastic (neutral) evolution using molecular markers (e.g. microsatellites, AFLP, allozymes). Phylogeography based on comprehensive sequencing data links this field to systematics and phylogenetic analysis.

A new line of research is studies of gene expression patterns either induced by environmental variables or caused by fixed inherited differences among genomes, and for this transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics are being used.

Research topics

* Conservation genetics
* Ecological genomics
* Evolutionary and developmental biology
* Genetic biodiversity
* Phylogeography and phylogeny
* Population genetic structure
* Speciation mechanisms