Research Unit Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes (formerly Fishery Biology)

Chair: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Reusch
Secretary: Cornelia Roggenbuck

The research unit Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes (formerly Fishery Biology) was restructured in 2008. It aims at integrating ecological and evolutionary approaches in the marine realm, using marine fish, including cephalopods, as primary focus. Recent research has highlighted that evolution and ecology operate at similar time scales. Human exploitation of fish populations has resulted in rapid genetic shifts of life history traits, for example growth rates and time to maturation. In host-parasite co-evolution, reciprocal genetic change occurs virtually every generation, visible as frequency shifts in immune genes, and simultaneously, parasite virulence factors. The ongoing genetic/genomic revolution allows us to characterize critical genetic polymorphisms underlying phenotypic change even in non-model organisms. The genetic work is deeply grounded in population biology and ecology as major determinants of how selection operates in the wild. Because larval stages are subject to particularly high mortality selection, the ecological and genetic determinants of larval survival are one important focus. Our group is part of the Excellence Cluster “The Future Ocean”.

Forschungsschwerpunkte

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