Branco Weiss Fellow Since
2020
Research Category
Evolutionary biology, ecology, biogeography, bioinformatics
Research Location
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Tree of Life Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
Background
We are currently facing an unprecedented decline of biodiversity. Many species are unable to adapt as quickly as the environment changes. However, species extinction is only one part of the equation as the total number of species depends both on the number of species that evolved and on the number of species that got extinct. Some species can adapt very fast to changing environments and thus escape extinction and under certain conditions, new species can evolve very rapidly. The research of Dr Joana Meier shows that hybridisation, i.e. crossbreeding between species, can speed up adaptation and speciation. If two species combine their genetic variation, there is much more substrate for selection to act upon and long waiting times for new mutations can be circumvented. Dr Joana Meier showed that hybridisation facilitated explosive species diversification of Lake Victoria cichlid fishes which evolved 500 ecologically diverse species in just 15,000 years. Hybridisation can also allow the transfer of adaptive alleles between species and thus speed up adaptation. However, hybridisation can also lead to the loss of local adaptation and merging of species and it is thus important to understand how hybridisation impacts biodiversity. The research by Dr Joana Meier will shed light on the role of hybridisation and other genomic and ecological factors allowing rapid evolution. Her work has important conservation implications, particularly in these times of rapid environmental change.
Details of Research
Dr. Joana Meier will establish South- and Central American ithomiine butterflies (393 known species) as a new study system for rapid adaptation and rapid evolution of new species. This group of butterflies shows large variation in the speed of diversification, whereby two genera stand out as being particularly fast in evolving new species. Dr. Joana Meier will test if her finding of an important role of hybridisation in cichlid fishes also applies to these rapidly speciating butterflies which would confirm the generality of her findings. In addition, she will test a multitude of other ecological and genomic factors that potentially drive the rapid speciation. By combining field work, genomics, bioinformatics, ecological and behavioural studies, she will take a highly integrative approach. Through collaborations, Dr. Joana Meier is also involved in studying similar questions in Swiss wall lizards, Hawaiian spiders, African daisies, and different groups of butterflies. Studying the same questions in different taxa will provide generalizable insights on factors facilitating rapid adaptation and speciation.
