My research focuses on how animals cope with and adapt to changing environments, especially climate warming, more variable and extreme weather, and changes in land use. In my research group, we study these questions across biological scales, from field ecology in natural environments to detailed laboratory measurements of metabolism, body-temperature regulation and cell biology, as well as through applied work in agricultural landscapes. Our main study systems are birds – from small passerines in southern Sweden to large birds in the High Arctic – and wild bees.

A central aim of our work is to understand how environmental change affects the physiological systems that allow animals to function, survive and reproduce. At the whole-animal level, we study the evolution and function of mechanisms that help animals stay warm when it is cold and avoid overheating  when it is hot. At the cellular level, we investigate how mitochondria – the cell’s energy-producing machinery –respond to stressors such as temperature change and environmental contaminants. We are particularly interested in whether extreme or unstable temperatures early in life, for example being born during a heatwave or cold spell, shape physiology later in life and whether such effects can persist across generations. Increasingly, we also study how heat and water stress interact, including how heatwaves and drought together constrain thermoregulation, water balance and performance.

Much of this work sits at the interface of evolutionary ecology, ecophysiology and conservation physiology: we want to understand not only how animals work, but also why some species or populations are better able than others to cope with rapid environmental change.

I currently lead the ERC Consolidator Grant HotLife, which investigates the evolution of avian heat tolerance and how birds may adapt to a warmer world. I lead similar research on climate responses in wild bees and other insects. Together, these projects allow us to connect fundamental questions about physiological and evolutionary adaptation with broader questions about biodiversity change and climate resilience.

I studied ecology, comparative animal physiology and statistics at Lund University and the University of Auckland between 2002 and 2007, and defended my PhD at Lund University in 2012. I later held postdoctoral positions at Lund University, the University of Glasgow and UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Since 2019, I have worked as a researcher at Lund University and remain affiliated with the University of Glasgow as a visiting researcher.

My teaching focuses particularly on physiological and evolutionary ecology, human physiology, biodiversity surveys and faunistics, and I am course coordinator for the 7.5-credit course in Field Faunistics. I also run the Department of Biology’s public outreach platform Ask a Biologist, where anyone can ask questions about animals, plants, fungi and nature more broadly, and I serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Avian Biology.

Alongside my work in animal physiology, I am an experienced field entomologist with expertise in beetles, true bugs and leafhoppers. I lead biodiversity surveys in different parts of Sweden, including current work on Hemiptera in Gotska Sandön National Park. Outside work, I am a keen flyfisherman and will often be found chasing trout along the Skåne coastline.