.jpg?height=428&width=760)
I am an evolutionary biologist and passionate naturalist with a particular interest in microevolution. Microevolution is focused on evolutionary change that takes place within populations and that ultimately lead to divergence between populations. I make use of quantitative genetic techniques for studying the genetic architecture of sexually selected traits and of molecular markers for localizing additive genetic variation in the genome ('QTL mapping'). Two particularly intriguing topics are the evolution of sexual ornamentation and of behavioral strategies for successful reproduction. Another special focus lies on the sources of variation in mating preferences, an important component of sexual selection. Other interests include life history evolution, inbreeding depression, condition-dependent trait expression, biostatistics and animal migration.
We are working with the club-legged grasshopper (Gomphocerus sibiricus) as a novel model system for studying the evolution of sexually selected traits. The species is remarkable for its sexually dimorphic ornament: males possess swollen front legs ('Popeye arms') that are presented to the females during display. The system is amenable to laboratory and field work, which offers great opportunities for testing results from the lab in the natural environment. Another key advantage is that the species allows studies within populations as well as between populations/subspecies. The main aim of my work is to understand the coevolution and conflict between the sexes using quantitative genetic and genomic tools. By doing so, I am addressing fundamental evolutionary questions such as the evolution of sexual signals and the evolutionary dynamics of indirect genetic effects.
Winter, G., Varma, M. & Schielzeth, H. (2021). Simple inheritance of color and pattern polymorphism in the steppe grasshopper Chorthippus dorsatus. Heredity doi: 10.1038/s41437-021-00433-w [Data availability]
Mutwill, A.M., Schielzeth, H., Zimmermann, T.D., Richter, H., Kaiser, S. & Sachser, N. (2021). Individuality meets plasticity: endocrine phenotypes across male dominance rank acquisition in a complex social environment. Hormones and Behavior 131: 104967. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2021.104967 [Data availability]
Moran, N., Sánchez-Tójar, A., Schielzeth, H. & Reinhold, K. (2020). Poor nutritional condition promotes high-risk behaviours: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Biological Reviews 96: 269-288. doi: 10.1111/brv.12655
Westneat, D.F., Araya-Ajoy, Y.G., Allegue, H., Class, B., Dingemanse, N., Dochtermann, N.A., Garamszegi, L.Z., Martin, J.G.A., Nakagawa, S., Réale, D. & Schielzeth, H. (2020). Collision between biological process and statistical analysis revealed by mean centring. Journal of Animal Ecology 89: 2813-2824. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13360.
Schmoll, T., Rudolfsen, G., Schielzeth, H. & Kleven, O. (2020). Sperm velocity in a promiscuous bird across experimental media of different viscosities. Proceedings of the Royal Society B doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1031
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 20: 1311-1322. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.13192
Schielzeth, H., Dingemanse, N., Nakagawa, S., Westneat, D.F., Allegue, H., Teplisky, C., Réale, D., Dochtermann, N.A., Garamszegi, L.Z. & Araya-Ajoy, Y.G. (2020). Robustness of linear mixed-effects models to violations of distributional assumptions. Methods in Ecology and Evolution doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.13434
Shah, A., Hoffman, J.I. & Schielzeth, H. (2020). Comparative analysis of genomic repeat content in gomphocerine grasshoppers reveals expansion of satellite DNA and helitrons in species with unusually large genomes. Genome Biology and Evolution doi: 10.1093/gbe/evaa119
Voelkl, B., Altman, N.S., Forsman, A., Forstmeier, W., Gurevitch, J., Jaric, I., Karp, N.A., Kas, M.J., Schielzeth, H., Van de Casteele, T. & Würbel, H. (2020). Reproducibility of animal research in light of biological variation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 21: 384-393. doi: 10.1038/s41583-020-0313-3
Schielzeth, H. & Dieker, P. (2020). The green-brown polymorphism of the club-legged grasshopper Gomphocerus sibiricus is heritable and appears genetically simple. BMC Evolutionary Biology 20: 63. doi: 10.1186/s12862-020-01630-7
