Idag och i morgon är det konferensen Samlingsforum 2017 nere i Universitetsaulan. Det är en konferens för museifolk. I år är det Biologiska museet tillsammans (mer …)
Samlingar i fokus på forum
Nan Hu – new PhD student
My current research focuses on understanding the global warming effects across different trophic levels of marine species. More specifically, I propose to test whether species from different trophic positions response demonstrate different magnitude of phenotypic plasticity to abiotic versus biotic stress. My objectives are to measure the extent of shell shape, shell thickness, behavior and trait correlations among a set of traits. Together, these measurements will allow me to test whether stressors of different origin (abiotic vs. biotic) influence species associated to various trophic levels differently, and how this may cause ecological community imbalances via trophic effects. I use Nucella lapillus and Buccinum undatum, two carnivorous marine snails as high trophic level species. For low trophic level species, I will study the herbivorous marine snails Littorina obtusata and Littorina fabalis. Different pH levels will work as abiotic stress, and the predation risk from green crab work as biotic stress. I will also conduct a systematic review related to phenotypic plasticity of snails by using meta-analysis to extend the question to additional systems and taxa.
My previous study is mainly about predation behavior of the rapa whelk (Rapana venosa). I identified the prey selection of the whelk by filming their foraging behavior. I also examined the functional response of this species when they are exposed to different clam densities.
Nan Hu is a PhD student at Aquatic Ecology and Johan Hollander is his main supervisor.
Mads Fristrup Schou – new postdoc
Hey, I am happy to be here and look forward to meeting you all, and spending hopefully the next two years here at the department!
I did my PhD and Postdoc at Aarhus and Aalborg University in Denmark where most of my work involved the use of Drosophila as a model organism. I worked with genomic and phenotypic consequences for populations with a small population size, and in particular how environmental stress affected these relationships. I also worked on thermal adaptation in relation to climate change, where I used experimental evolution of thermal tolerances, but mostly focused on developmental plasticity of upper thermal tolerances.
Here in Lund I will work with Charlie Cornwallis, and use the novel (especially novel to me!) study system, the facultatively group living ostrich (Struthio camelus). Ostriches can breed on their own, but can also breed in complex groups and cooperate to protect eggs against extreme temperatures. I will measure ostrich heat tolerance in relation to cooperative breeding behaviour and combine this with large pedigrees and genomic analyses to understand the genetic basis of heat tolerance and if it is linked to the breeding strategy of ostriches.
Maarit Mäenpää – new postdoc
My current research focuses on understanding the mechanistic basis of phenotypic trait evolution. Specifically, my aim is to explore how external male and female reproductive structures coevolve, and how the structures themselves can potentially affect observed patterns of selection, via assortative mating. My study species, the blue-tailed damselfly Ischnura elegans, exhibits female-limited colour polymorphism, which is maintained by male harassment of the common female morphs. Males of this species, like all other Odonates (dragonflies and damselflies), possess easily distinguishable secondary sexual structures (claspers), which are used to grasp the female in order to initiate mating. These structures are obligatory for the mating to succeed. Thus, due to their importance to the mating success and their easily observable morphology, the claspers provide an exemplary system for exploring morphological evolution. In this work, I use both lab- and field-based methods.
In the past, I’ve studied animal communication with regards to the resolution of parent-offspring conflict, as well as life-history evolution with regards to large scale geographic variation in key traits, such as bodysize. In my work, I have mostly worked with insect systems, partly due to their ideal nature as study systems due to their short life cycles, and partly simply due to my lifelong fascination of the group. My main research interests lie in discerning the small scale mechanisms behind large scale patterns, and assessing the potential upstream influence that a mechanism may have for the scale and direction of evolution.
Den Blå Planeten
Last Friday SACT invited a large group from the department to visit the national aquarium in Denmark, Den Blå Planet. We had a fantastic interesting day with a guided tour behind the scenes. We learned that (mer …)
Foton och föreläsning på Jubileumsträff
Igår öppnade LU350-årsfotoutställningen på Grand. Det är en utställning med vetenskapliga foton från institutionerna på fakulteten. Idén kom från (mer …)
Superframträdande av Supershowen
I helgen hade Supershowen, skapad enkom för 350-årsjubiléet, fem föreställningar. Supershowen är en sammanslagning, och omarbetning, av de tre naturvetenskapliga showerna – Biologishowen, Fysik- och lasershowen och Kemishowen. På Lunds Stadsteater kunde vi (mer …)
”Icke-svar” från Rektor på prorektorskrivelse
Rektor och universitetsstyrelsens ordförande har svarat på vår skrivelse – och andra skrivelser – med synpunkter på och frågor kring rekryteringen av ny prorektor för Lunds universitet.
Svaret (pdf) – som inte innehåller några egentliga svar eller förklaringar rörande de missförhållanden vi påpekat – har inte heller någon adressat. Detta är kanske en petitess men ändå lite anmärkningsvärt med tanke på att Lunds universitet också är en myndighet. Brukar det påpekas.
Fler icke-svar från Rektor finns att läsa på Rektors blogg.
Sammanfattningsvis verkar universitetsledningen varken förstå grunden för kritiken eller inse att man gjort något fel.
Döm själv!
För övrigt anser jag att prorektorsvalet bör göras om.
Christer Löfstedt
Prefekt Biologiska institutionen
Varpu Pärssinen – new PhD student
Nice to meet you! My name is Varpu Pärssinen and I’ve started my PhD studies at the Aquatic Ecology unit. My supervisor is Anders Nilsson, with Kaj Hulthén and Christer Brönmark as my co-supervisors.
I did my BS and MS studies in the University of Helsinki, Finland, with Ecology and evolutionary biology as my major. In my previous theses I have focused mainly on animal behaviour and sexual selection. I’ve also had the pleasure to do field and lab work in many different groups and projects, involving sticklebacks, common gobies, and the Glanville fritillary butterfly. I also love
birdwatching in my meantime.
My PhD project in Lund studies how natural selection affects the fitness of hybrids between isolated populations. I’m using the Bahamas mosquitofish as a model animal, working together with the Langerhans Lab in North Carolina, US. I’m very happy to work as a part of this international collaboration, researching one of the main mechanisms of speciation!
Collect data faster with new system
Finally, our new confocal microscope (Leica SP8 DLS) has arrived in the department and is being installed by (mer …)
Anhållan om omgjord rekrytering
Christer Löfstedt och ledningen för institutionen har skrivit till Universitetsstyrelsen och Rektor och bett dem göra om rekryteringen av prorektor:
Vi anhåller om att rekryteringen av prorektor för Lunds universitet görs om. Processen skall vara transparent och universitetskollegiets skall höras och ges möjlighet att ta ställning till flera kandidater, allt med sikte på att hitta en vid LU anställd lärare som med verksamhetens förtroende kan utföra förtroendeuppdraget som prorektor.
Samtliga enhetschefer och medlemmar i Biologiska institutionens ledningsgrupp, samt några ytterligare personer med nyckelpositioner vid institutionen står bakom bifogade skrivelse (pdf).
För Biologiska institutionen
Christer Löfstedt
PrefektÖvriga undertecknare:
Olle Anderbrant – professor, enhetschef Funktionell zoologi
Staffan Bensch – professor, enhetschef MEMEG
Christer Brönmark – professor, enhetschef Akvatisk ekologi
Marie Dacke – professor, medlem i ledningsgruppen
Mats Hansson – professor, enhetschef Molekylär cellbiologi
Anders Hedenström – professor, f d ledamot ledningsgruppen
Carin Jarl-Sunesson – universitetslektor, bitr. prefekt, huvudstudierektor GU
Almut Kelber – professor
Per Lundberg – professor, studierektor FU
Dan E Nilsson – professor, f d ledamot ledningsgruppen, ledamot i universitetskollegiet
Jan-Åke Nilsson – professor, enhetschef Evolutionär ekologi
Ola Olsson – universitetslektor, enhetschef Biodiversitet
Monica Pardon, administrativ chef, ledningsgruppen
Per Persson – professor, medlem i ledningsgruppen
Anders Tunlid – professor, f d ledamot ledningsgruppen
Tobias Uller – professor, medlem i ledningsgruppen
Niklas Wahlberg – professor, chef Biologiska muséet
Marcus Lee – new PhD student
Hej, my name is Marcus Lee. I am very excited to have started my PhD studies in the Aquatic Ecology department working with Lars-Anders Hansson.
I studied my Masters at the University of Sheffield, UK, and since graduating I have been lucky enough to work in the field on multiple projects, from the molecular basis of eusociality in wasps to how land-use change is affecting montane rainforest communities.
Building on this varied experience, I’m looking forward to turning my attention to everyone’s favourite model zooplankter, Daphnia! My PhD studies will focus on how individual variation to multiple stressors (predation, UV radiation, toxic food) will produce trade-offs in the exhibited phenotype and how this determines population structure.
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