I am an evolutionary ecologist with a particular interest in speciation genomics and convergent molecular evolution. Speciation is a particularly interesting evolutionary setting that in combination with recurrent phenotypic evolution enables us to address whether phenotypic evolution is best explained by de novo mutations, adaptation from standing genetic variation or by adaptive introgression from one species into another.
Previous projects focused on cyto-nuclear discordances and admixture in the North African Genus Chalcides or aimed at characterising overall salivary gland gene expression and its evolution in myrmecophagous mammals.
My PhD project (DFG 413417083) aims at uncovering the genetic basis and evolutionary history of phenotypic and species evolution in a color-polymorphic songbird radiation, wheatears (genus Oenanthe) and relatives. To study these questions, in a first part of my project, I will reconstruct the histories of colonization and hybridization in pervasively hybridizing wheatear species, before inferring genome regions that are shielded from gene flow and represent candidate genomic regions involved in reproductive isolation. In a second part, I will use an admixture mapping approach and comparative genomic analyses to infer genomic regions involved in the parallel evolution of plumage color traits.
Lutgen, D., Ritter, R., Olsem, R.-A., Schielzeth, H., Gruselius, J., Ewels, P., García, J.T., Shirihai, H., Schweizer, M., Suh, A. & Burri, R. (2020). Linked-read sequencing enables haplotype-resolved resequencing at population scale. Molecular Ecology Resources doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.13192
