The genetic architecture of colour polymorphism and speciation. Speciation, the process by which populations diverge and become distinct, is the engine that drives biodiversity and Darwin's 'mystery of mysteries'. Speciation is accelerated in species with multiple, discrete, coexisting colour forms; yet the genetic mechanisms underpinning this pattern are not known. This project aims to identify the genes underlying different colour forms and how they are distributed across the genome. The proj ....The genetic architecture of colour polymorphism and speciation. Speciation, the process by which populations diverge and become distinct, is the engine that drives biodiversity and Darwin's 'mystery of mysteries'. Speciation is accelerated in species with multiple, discrete, coexisting colour forms; yet the genetic mechanisms underpinning this pattern are not known. This project aims to identify the genes underlying different colour forms and how they are distributed across the genome. The project plans to test the prediction that these same areas of the genome show marked divergence between lineages that are in the process of becoming distinct species. Doing so may contribute significantly to our understanding of speciation, underlying genetic mechanisms, and genes generating colour variation in vertebrates.Read moreRead less
Resolving insect evolution. Our poor understanding of the evolution of insects, life’s most successful group, is a huge gap in our knowledge of nature. By analysing genomic data the project will resolve the insect evolutionary tree and discover what drove insect evolution. This will expand our knowledge of how evolution works - a vital part of conserving our biological diversity.