You're nothing but a smear on the Sports page to me, you slimy, ugly, intestual parasite! Eat me! Eat me! (Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K in 'Men in Black', 1997)
Two Daphnia magna from a rock pool population in Finland. The left female is infected with Spirobacillus cienkowskii.
The main focus of the group are the evolution, genetics and ecology of host-parasite and host-mutualist interactions. We ask questions about the adaptive significance of parasite virulence (Why do hosts get sick? Is virulence adaptive for the parasite?), the mechanisms of host-symbiont coevolution and the adaptive significance of genetic variation and sexual recombination (What is sex good for?). We exlore the species rich microbiota associated with each host and ask questions related to their ecology and evolution (How are microbiota transmitted? Are microbiota friend of foe? Do microbiota interact with parasitism of their host?). Our work also includes the study of inbreeding and inbreeding depression and its relationship to parasites and microbiota. We conduct our research in the laboratory and at our field sites in Switzerland and in South-Western Finland. Methods include experimental epidemiology, experimental evolution, manipulation of natural populations, evolutionary genomics and evolutionary genetics.
Our main study organisms are microparasites (bacteria, fungi, protozoans) and members of the microbiota, as well as their hosts, waterfleas of the genus Daphnia. This system allows us to estimate fitness components of hosts and symbionts, which is essential for the quantification of costs and benefits in both partners. We also use genomic approaches to find genes involved in host-symbiont interactions, for example genome scans and QTL mapping.