I want to understand how evolution works. This requires an integrative approach – from molecular and developmental biology to ecology – guided by mathematical modelling and conceptual analysis. The projects in my group span across a range of topics, but are often designed to reveal how functional processes of organisms – development, physiology and behaviour – influence their evolution. We mostly study lizards and water fleas, and combine experiments with genomic analyses, field studies and comparative methods. Several projects make use of mathematical modelling to predict or interpret evolutionary outcomes. The integration of development and evolution also raises conceptual issues, which I explore in contributions aimed towards biologists and philosophers of science.

Current research projects include how phenotypic plasticity influences adaptive diversification, the evolutionary causes and consequences of extra-genetic inheritance, and the genetic, developmental and ecological factors underlying evolution through introgressive hybridization.