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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5881861923?omn=85945744831
Meeting ID: 588 186 1923

Topic description / abstract:

Eco-Evo-Devo combines concepts and approaches from different disciplines towards a better understanding of the patterns and processes accounting for inter-individual variation and inter-species divergence. Development translates genotype into phenotype and produces the phenotypic variants that are the raw material for evolutionary change. Both of these processes, which operate at different time scales, are very dependent on external environmental conditions. My work uses insect experimental models to study the genetic and environmental basis of variation in body pigmentation, a diversified and ecologically significant phenotype which illustrates key eco-evo-devo topics including evolutionary novelty and developmental plasticity. I will discuss some of our work on these topics and challenges it faces.

Biographical note:

I have a university degree in Biology from Lisbon University (PT), a PhD in Evolutionary and Developmental Biology from Leiden University (NL), and post-doc research experience in Evolutionary Genomics at the University of California at Irvine (USA). I have held independent faculty / PI positions at Leiden University (NL), Gulbenkian Institute of Science (PT), and CNRS (FR). Currently, I am an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sciences of Lisbon University (PT) and the PI of the “Eco-Evo-Devo” research group at its R&D unit, cE3c (Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes). My research combines concepts and approaches from evolutionary and developmental biology, as well as ecology, to explore the proximate and ultimate mechanisms shaping intra-specific variation and inter-species diversity in various complex traits in experimental insect models.