My main research line is focused on the ecophysiological adaptations that allow passerines to withstand winter conditions. I have combined different approaches ranging from correlational and experimental work on wild populations to laboratory experiments with captive wild and domestic animals. My current postdoctoral project in collaboration with Prof. Jan Åke Nilsson deals with the adaptive significance of winter BMR variation in a wild great tit population in southern Sweden. We focus on the specific relation between BMR and body condition, and set up a new theoretical framework to study energy management in the context of a starvation –predation trade-off, moving the focus from “the optimal body mass theory”, to a new perspective in where costs of maintenance are simultaneously regulated. We further study the implications of winter energy management policies and their carry-over effects on breeding performance.

Another line of research deals with maternal transfer of antibodies, and to a wider extent on transgenerational effects on immunity and metabolism. I have been studying the influence of maternal effects in the inheritance of immune response in wild house sparrows, and the potential implications for the concept of “social immunity”.

Finally, another line of research is specifically focused on the costs of immunity and its relationship with oxidative stress and carotenoids. By studying diverse model species and circumstances, such as breeding adult kittiwakes in the high arctic, lesser kestrel or house sparrow nestlings all challenged with PHA, I intend to reveal what are the physiological and ecological factors that determine variation in immune response. In particular, I am interested in how this variation affects other aspects of the individual physiology and in the long-term how it affects individual life-history strategies.

Summarizing, I’m interested in how species deal with challenging situations such as stressful conditions, for example due to temperature or humidity, exposure to new pathogens or colonization of new environments. My goal is to understand the specific mechanisms that allow the species to persist, how these are developed, and what is the genetic basis, and the physiological, behavioral, ecological and evolutionary implications.