Multilevel differentiation and evolution of parasite populations in space and time (R-12115)

Parasitism is one of the most successful life strategies worldwide. The need to understand parasite evolution and infection dynamics has increased with changes in overall parasite distribution linked with trends like globalisation and climate change. Microevolution, and in particular the relative importance of its principal drivers, remain poorly understood in natural parasite populations. In the proposed project, we will study population differentiation in a species-rich fish parasite lineage to identify footprints of parasite selection/adaptation under natural conditions. Our multilevel- and carefully designed study combines multiple methodologies to discern signatures of population differentiation, adaptation, and selection, particularly with respect to contrasting parasite infection dynamics and host specificity. The proposed activities will allow the applicant to enhance her skills in bioinformatics with particular focus on genome wide population analyses, which will significantly improve her career prospects in the field of evolutionary parasitology.

Keywords:Host-parasite microevolutionary interactions, Host-specificity, Parasite evolutionary genomics

Disciplines:Speciation, Evolutionary biology not elsewhere classified, Population, ecological and evolutionary genetics, Parasitology, Genomics