Royal Entomological Society

Verrall Lecture

Venue: Flett Lecture Hall, Natural History Museum, London

4.00pm for tea/coffee in the anteroom.
Lecture 4.30pm to 5.15pm to depart sharp at 5.30pm (to safely vacate the Museum)

Confirmed Speaker:
Professor Ilkka Hanski (University of Helsinki)

Title: The Glanville fritillary butterfly: ecology meets evolution

Summary:

Demographic population dynamics, gene flow and local adaptation may influence each other and lead to coupling of ecological and evolutionary dynamics especially in species inhabiting fragmented heterogeneous environments. Studies on the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia in Finland have documented reciprocal influence between ecological and evolutionary dynamics in dispersal, in inbreeding and population extinction, and in female host plant preference and population establishment. The most striking example involves genetic polymorphism in the gene phosphoglucose isomerase Pgi, which is associated with dispersal, recolonization and local population dynamics.In this case extinction-colonization metapopulation dynamics influence allele frequency changes in Pgi and vice versa. Eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in heterogeneous environments may not lead to directional evolutionary changes, unless the environment changes, but eco-evolutionary dynamics may contribute to the maintenance of genetic variation due to fluctuating selection in space and time.

Convenor: Dr Archie K Murchie archie.murchie@afbini.gov.uk