Adaptation
Adaptation along elevational gradients
Alpine biodiversity is threatened by climate
change, habitat fragmentation, and invasive species. To manage the biodiversity
crisis and maintain vital ecosystem function we need to understand the
processes promoting and eroding genetic diversity and adaptive potential at the
local and global levels of populations and species. We
investigate divergent adaptation and adaptive potential in two widespread but
diverse Alpine fish groups, trout (Salmo
spp.), and
bullhead, (Cottus gobio
complex). In a sister project we studied their prey (the amphipod Gammarus fossarum
and the mayflies Baetis alpinus
and B. rhodani).
Major funding:
The goal of BioChange is to use evolutionary and ecological parameters estimated in natural populations (genetic diversity, genetic constraints, adaptive capacity) and data on environmental change to build predictive models of biodiversity change.