Evolutionary biology and biogeograhy of terrestrial animals

We are interested in understanding how species proliferate and change over time. We use molecular tools and fieldwork approaches to investigate evolutionary and ecological patterns and processes at both the individual and population level. Much of this work is focused on island birds (using extinct and extant taxa) where I investigate the causes and consequences of adaptive (and non-adaptive) genetic variation to understand the mechanisms driving avian radiations. In addition, we are interested in unraveling the mechanisms shaping the genetic variability in alpine grasshoppers, and the role of birds in ecosystem services in agricultural sytems. Finally, we are also interested to investigate the ecological and evolutionary role of microbes (pathogens and microbiome) on their avian hosts.