New student project
I am currently looking for a motivated Master's student to investigate the genetics of body weight and size in snow voles, and how trait is being shaped by selection. This project will involve fieldwork in a tough but beautiful alpine environment, as well as lab work and data analysis. A good background in statistics and programming in R would be a plus. The starting date is flexible. A bit more information can be found here. E-mail me if you are interested, or if you would like to discuss other possibilities.
PhD students
Philipp Becker - The evolutionary genetics of dispersal
Co-supervised with Lukas Keller
Dispersal determines the distribution of organisms in space and time. A main goal of my work is to understand how selection shapes dispersal behavior and how sex-specific patterns have evolved. I am interested in estimating the roles of genes and the environment in shaping this key life-history trait that plays such a profound role in evolutionary biology, population genetics, ecology, and conservation biology.
Moreover, I focus on the evolutionary interplay between dispersal and inbreeding. Dispersing from the natal site may reduce the likelihood of encountering relatives and choosing a related individual for mate. Therefore, natal dispersal is hypothesized to be of importance for the avoidance of inbreeding, i.e. mating between relatives.
For my research, it is essential to quantify dispersal and inbreeding in wild populations which are subject to natural selection. I use a long-term dataset on several Dipper populations (Cinclus cinclus) in the proximity of Zurich which are the result of the extensive field work of Johann Hegelbach. Long-term pedigree data and DNA samples allow working at the interface of evolutionary biology and population genetics. In addition, using modeling approaches I aim at formulating theoretical hypotheses which can be tested with empirical data.
Pirmin Nietlisbach- The evolutionary ecology of heterozygosity
Co-supervised with Lukas Keller
I am interested in applying genetic methods to the study of ecological and evolutionary questions. For my PhD thesis, I am studying inbreeding and its effects on genetic diversity, using data from a small population of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) on Mandarte Island, British Columbia, Canada. I am using the combination of life-history data from a long-term pedigree with a large set of genetic markers to investigate inbreeding depression, purging (selective removal of deleterious alleles from the population), and the importance of heterozygosity (individual genetic diversity) for selection and mate choice.
MSc students
Anja Bürkli - The evolutionary genetics of life and death in modern-day Switzerland
Selection acts on genetic differences among individuals, resulting in genetic changes over time (i.e. evolution) and genetic differences among populations. While there is abundant evidence in support of this in a wide range of taxa, the degree to which genes shape modern-day human societies remains controversial. In this project I will first provide a detailed description of life-history variation in modern-day Switzerland, among individuals and cantons, as well as of changes over time. To this end, I will use publicly available census data, as well as unique genealogical data from two small villages. This will provide insight into how important life-history traits, like age at first reproduction, family size and lifespan, as well as a range of socio-economic variables, (co)vary among individuals and cantons, and how they have changed over time. Subsequently, we use both molecular, surname and pedigree data to test for a role of genetic variation in shaping these patterns. By combining a number of large data sets, each with their unique strengths and weakness, with ideas from population and quantitative genetics and life-history theory, this will allow me to make a first step towards elucidating the role of genes in shaping life and death in modern-day Switzerland.
Kathrin Näpflin - Unravelling the genetic basis of variation in immune function in a wild bird population
While much works has been done on the genetics of the innate immune system in poultry, we still know remarkably little about the immunogenetics of wild birds. Although there is a substantial body of work on the fitness consequences of variation in the major histocompatibility complex, poultry scientists have identified a large number of other genes involved in different aspects of the immune system. In this project we will sequence (parts of) a number of these immune candidate genes in the song sparrow population of Mandarte Island. Besides detailed fitness data on all birds that have lived on the island over the last couple of decades, I have, thanks to the work by Jane Reid, measures of immune function for several years. In addition, I have blood samples for the complete population for a large part of the study period. Finally, given its small size and isolated nature, we find substantial level of inbreeding, and many traits, including immune response, show inbreeding depression. Thereby this unique dataset will allow me to directly test for associations between genetic variation in immune genes, inbreeding and fitness, providing a mechanistic understanding of inbreeding depression, and of variation in fitness in general.