Entomology and insect-plant interactions

The group studies biodiversity in all its dimensions, from descriptive approaches to ecological and evolutionary processes, with a focus on insects closely associated with plants, such as herbivores and pollinators. We adopt a multidisciplinary approach, generating molecular data for taxonomic, phylogenetic, and phylogeographic studies, as well as using -omics techniques for sequencing, assembly, and functional annotation of genomes in natural populations of model and non-model species. These data allow us to investigate genome evolution, environmental adaptation, and behavioral responses. We also apply paleoentomological methods to describe fossil biodiversity and study the macroevolution of pollination strategies. A key component of our research is the direct study of organisms in their natural environments, providing ecological, distributional, phenological, and spatio-temporal monitoring data on populations.