Diversity and structure of soil arthropod communities in insular systems
In collaboration with Prof. Anna Papadopoulou (University of Cyprus), we are recently applying bulk-sample metabarcoding protocols to characterize the composition and structure of soil arthropod communities in order to gain insights about the mechanisms structuring the biodiversity patterns across different spatiotemporal scales. In a first step, we are focusing on a single insular setting (Cyprus) and afterwards we will expand our approach to different European archipelagos (Aegean). This approach will provide important knowledge about the drivers determining the richness and structure of invertebrate communities within and among different ecosystems and insular systems. This study is performed as a part of iBioGen project in collaboration with all its partners. |
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The "iBioGen - Island Biodiversity Genomics" project (European Commission, Horizon 2020) brings together researchers from the University of Cyprus (UCY, Cyprus, Anna Papadopoulou Lab), Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA-CSIC, Tenerife, Brent Emerson Lab), Natural History Museum (NHM, London, Alfried Vogler Lab) and Centre National de la Reserche Scientifique (CNRS, Paris, Hélène Morlon Lab) to establish a network of excellence on the use of genomics for understanding and protecting island biodiversity. Get more information about iBioGen here! iBioGen logo by Emmanouil Meramveliotakis (University of Cyprus, UCY) |
Effects of ancient sea-level dynamic on genomic variation in the Mediterranean basin
In collaboration with Dr. Joaquín Ortego (EBD-CSIC, Spain), Prof. Pedro J. Cordero (IREC-UCLM, Spain) and Prof. L. Lacey Knowles (University of Michigan, USA) we bridge phylogenomics, population genomics, and fine-scale bathymetric models within a spatially-explicit landscape framework to examine the link between the magnitude of the Messinian sea-level drawdown (Late Miocene, ~5.96-5.33 Ma) and the evolutionary and demographic history of Mediterranean grasshopper species. We focus on Mioscirtus wagneri, a grasshopper taxa with a Mediterranean-Turanian disjunct distribution inhabiting exclusively in hypersaline habitats. |
Understanding the diversification processes along the speciation continuum
Since my PhD, I have been interested in understanding how varying geographical and environmental factors over time and space drive genetic differentiation among populations and, ultimately, ongoing speciation processes. To address this question, I have mainly used as a study system a recent evolutionary radiation of montane grasshoppers (Glyptobothrus binotatus species complex). See some representative publications: [1] [2] [3]
Recently, I am taking advantage of high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies (ddRAD-seq) to generate genome-wide data in order to deal with some specific ecological and evolutionary questions in collaboration with Dr. Joaquín Ortego (EBD-CSIC, Spain):
Since my PhD, I have been interested in understanding how varying geographical and environmental factors over time and space drive genetic differentiation among populations and, ultimately, ongoing speciation processes. To address this question, I have mainly used as a study system a recent evolutionary radiation of montane grasshoppers (Glyptobothrus binotatus species complex). See some representative publications: [1] [2] [3]
Recently, I am taking advantage of high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies (ddRAD-seq) to generate genome-wide data in order to deal with some specific ecological and evolutionary questions in collaboration with Dr. Joaquín Ortego (EBD-CSIC, Spain):
Causes and consequences of introgressive hybridization Harnessing the power of genome-wide SNP data, this project is aimed to elucidate the relative importance of historical hybridization and introgression on the acquisition of potentially adaptive traits, and, ultimately, the formation of new taxa within the Glyptobothrus binotatus species complex. |
Adaptive differentiation along altitudinal gradients
In this project we combine ecological information, genome-wide data and novel genome-wide scan methods to elucidate the role of environment on genomic divergence in response to local adaptation processes using as a study model four closely-related species of Pyrenean grasshoppers exhibiting parapatric distributions and whose populations are distributed along a step climate and elevation gradient. |
Effects of interspecific interactions on the demography of species Here, we exploit genome-wide data with explicit coalescent-based simulations to test competing hypotheses about the effects of changes in historical and contemporary habitat suitability of a specialist grasshopper and its host-plant species on processes of genomic diversification of the former. |
Shedding light into the taxonomy and morphology of Orthoptera
In collaboration with the entomologist Bernard Defaut (France), we aim to improve the current knowledge on the morphology-based taxonomy, distribution range and ecology of certain taxonomic groups of Orthoptera for which such basic information remains still incomplete such as the Glyptobothrus binotatus species complex.
This project takes as a starting point some previous molecular studies carried out during my PhD under the supervision of my co-advisors Dr. Joaquín Ortego (EBD-CSIC, Spain) and Prof. Pedro J. Cordero (IREC-UCLM, Spain).
In collaboration with the entomologist Bernard Defaut (France), we aim to improve the current knowledge on the morphology-based taxonomy, distribution range and ecology of certain taxonomic groups of Orthoptera for which such basic information remains still incomplete such as the Glyptobothrus binotatus species complex.
This project takes as a starting point some previous molecular studies carried out during my PhD under the supervision of my co-advisors Dr. Joaquín Ortego (EBD-CSIC, Spain) and Prof. Pedro J. Cordero (IREC-UCLM, Spain).