Research Aina Garcia Raventós

Abstract

Environmental changes disrupt ecosystems and threaten species persistence. Evidence shows that advances in breeding timing and changes in body size are widespread plastic and heritable responses associated with fitness, suggesting that animals can mitigate novel selective pressures through both plasticity and microevolution. Although understanding the mechanisms underlying evolutionary potential is key to predict species vulnerability, our ability to determine which environmental factors are triggering the observed phenotypic changes, to what extent these responses are adaptive, and why the relative contribution of microevolution and plasticity varies among species has been limited by a lack of long-term breeding data on wild, marked, and pedigreed individuals. Within the BIRD-ADAPT project, I will address this gap by combining detailed ecological, life-history, and phylogenetic databases with extensive breeding records from the SPI-Birds Database and Network, covering 62 bird populations across diverse species. I will analyse this unique dataset in an integrative approach using advanced quantitative genetics to detect evolution in real time, offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the role of life-history in shaping the evolutionary potential of populations. These new insights will play a crucial role in predicting and reducing biodiversity loss.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Matthysen Erik
• Fellow: Garcia Raventós Aina

Research team(s)

• Evolutionary ecology group (EVECO)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Environmental changes disrupt ecosystems and threaten species persistence, leading to the extinction of hundreds of bird species. Evidence shows advances in breeding timing and changes in body size are widespread plastic and heritable responses associated with fitness, suggesting behaviour plays a key role in mitigating novel selective pressures through both plasticity and microevolution. Understanding the factors underlying evolutionary potential is critical to predict species vulnerability because, while rapid plastic responses facilitate persistence in the short-term, microevolution may sustain populations in the long-term. However, the extent to which such responses are adaptive, and whether they reflect microevolution, plasticity or both, has been limited by a lack of long-term breeding data on wild, marked and pedigreed individuals. Within the BIRD-ADAPT project, I will address this gap by integrating detailed ecological, phylogenetic, and genomic databases with extensive breeding records from the SPI-Birds database and network, covering over 260 bird populations across diverse species. The use of this unprecedented information alongside my expertise in Bayesian statistics, structural equation models, and selection analysis, complemented by training in advanced quantitative genetics, phylogenetic models and spatial network analysis, represents a unique opportunity to enhance our knowledge of ecological and evolutionary processes from global species patterns to fine-scale population dynamics. Such a comprehensive study will determine if observed phenological and morphological responses to environmental change are adaptive, elucidate the underlying mechanisms, and explore the roles of life-history, gene flow and dispersal on evolutionary potential. By advancing a general theory on the causes and constraints of evolutionary potential to cope with maladaptation, this research will provide critical insights for predicting and mitigating biodiversity loss.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Matthysen Erik
• Fellow: Garcia Raventós Aina

Research team(s)

• Evolutionary ecology group (EVECO)

Project type(s)

• Research Project