Prof. Dr. Holger Schielzeth
Evolutionary ecologist and head of the Population Ecology Group.
Orange-winged Dropwing (Trithemis kirbyi)
Holger Schielzeth, Prof. Dr
Head of the Population Ecology Group
Image: Anne Günther (University of Jena)
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Research interests
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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.
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Current projects
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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.
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Recent publications
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Takola, E. & Schielzeth, H. (2022). Hutchinson’s ecological niche for individuals. Biology & Philosophy doi: 10.1007/s10539-022-09849-y
Bračić, M., Bohn, L., Krakenberg, V., von Kortzfleisch, V., Schielzeth, H., Kaiser, S., Sachser, N. & Richter, S.H. (2022). Once an optimist, always an optimist? Studying cognitive judgment bias in mice. Behavioral Ecology doi: 10.1093/beheco/arac040
Trappes, R., Nematipour, B., Kaiser, M.I., Krohs, U., van Benthem, K.J., Ernst, U.R., Gadau, J., Korsten, P., Kurtz, J., Schielzeth, H., Schmoll, T. & Takola, E. (2022). How individualized niches arise: Mechanisms of niche construction, niche choice, and niche conformance. BioScience doi: 10.1093/biosci/biac023
Schielzeth, H. & Nakagawa, S. (2022). Conditional repeatability and the variance explained by reaction norm variation in random slope models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.13856 [Code avilability]
Schielzeth, H. & Wolf, J.B.W. (2021). Community genomics: a community-wide perspective on within-species genetic diversity. American Journal of Botany 108: 2108-2111. doi: 10.1002/ajb2.1796
Heinze, P., Dieker, P., Rowland, H. & Schielzeth, H. (2021). Evidence for morph-specific substrate choice in a green-brown polymorphic grasshopper. Behavioral Ecology doi: 10.1093/beheco/arab133 [Data and code availability]
Ebeling, A., Strauss, A., Adler, P.B., Arnillas, C., Barrio, I., Biederman, L., Borer, E., Bugalho, M., Caldeira, M., Cadotte, M., Daleo, P., Eisenhauer, N., Eskelinen, A., Fay, P., Firn, J., Graff, P., Hagenah, N., Haider, S., Komatsu, K., McCulley, R., Mitchell, C., Moore, J., Pascual, J., Peri, P., Power, S., Prober, S., Risch, A., Roscher, C., Sankaran, M., Seabloom, E., Schielzeth, H., Schutz, M., Speziale, K., Tedder, M., Virtanen, R. & Blumenthal, D. (2021). Nutrient enrichment increases invertebrate herbivory and pathogen damage in grasslands. Journal of Ecology doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.13801
Takola, E., Krause, E.T., Müller, C. & Schielzeth, H. (2021). Novelty at second glance: a critical appraisal of the novel object paradigm based on meta-analysis. Animal Behaviour 180: 123-142. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.07.018
Stoffel, M.A., Nakagawa, S. & Schielzeth, H. (2021). partR2: Partitioning R2 in generalized linear mixed models. PeerJ 9: e11414. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11414 [R package]
Winter, G., Varma, M. & Schielzeth, H. (2021). Simple inheritance of color and pattern polymorphism in the steppe grasshopper Chorthippus dorsatus. Heredity 127: 66-78. 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. (2021). Poor nutritional condition promotes high-risk behaviours: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Biological Reviews 96: 269-288. doi: 10.1111/brv.12655