Research

Prof. dr Kim Roelants

The team of Kim Roelants conducts multidisciplinary research to investigate evolutionary innovations in amphibians. This research focuses mostly on the evolution of defence systems, including antimicrobial peptides, antipredator poisons, adhesive skin secretions and secretions that sustain symbioses with aggressive arthropods. As these systems typically involve a diversity of peptides and proteins, they represent a direct link between an amphibian’s ecology and its genes, providing insightful models of ecological adaptation at the molecular scale. Ongoing projects combine genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data with functional and behavioral experiments in a phylogenetic framework. Amphibians are the team’s primary study taxon but other branches of the Tree of Life, like placental mammals and protozoan parasites are occasionally investigated too.

Mancuso, M., Zaman S., Maddock, S.T., Kamei, R.G., Salazar-Valenzuela, D., Wilkinson, M., Roelants, K. & Fry, B.G. (2023) Resistance is not futile: widespread convergent evolution of resistance to alpha-neurotoxic snake venoms in caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24:11353.
Raaymakers, C., Verbrugghe, E., Stijlemans, B., Martel, A., Pasmans, F. & Roelants, K. (2018) The anuran skin peptide bradykinin mediates its own absorption across epithelial barriers of the digestive tract. Peptides. 103: 84–89.
Raaymakers, C., Verbrugghe, E., Hernot, S., Hellebuyck, T., Betti, C., Peleman, C., Claeys, M., Bert, W., Caveliers, V., Ballet, S., Martel, A., Pasmans, F. & Roelants, K. (2017) Antimicrobial peptides in frog poisons constitute a molecular toxin delivery system against predators. Nature Communications 8: 1495.

Prof. dr Farid Dahdouh-Guebas

The team of Farid Dahdouh-Guebas seeks to understand and to predict how and why spatio-temporal dynamics in vegetation and landscapes occur. It adopts a retrospective approach using methods from different disciplines (tropical botany, remote sensing, socio-economic survey, hisstoric archives), and integrative analysis (GIS, multivariate and multicriteria analyses) to help understand ecosystem functioning (health status, social-ecological resilience) and management (conservation, restoration). Within this framework we also study biodiversity and climate change, ecological and ethological plant-animal interactions and man-ecosystem interactions. Mangrove forests are an important model for our research. The research is done on different spatial scales from case-studies in different countries to global analyses.

Dabalà, A., F. Dahdouh-Guebas, D.C. Dunn, J.D. Everett, C.E. Lovelock, J.O. Hanson, K.C.V. Buenafe, S. Neubert & A.J. Richardson, 2023. Priority areas to protect mangroves and maximise ecosystem services. Nature Communications 14: 5863.
Dahdouh-Guebas, F., D.A. Friess, C.E. Lovelock, R.M. Connolly, I.C. Feller, K. Rogers & S. Cannicci, 2022. Cross-cutting research themes for future mangrove forest research. Nature Plants 8: 1131–1135.
Dahdouh-Guebas, F. & S. Cannicci, 2021. Mangrove restoration under shifted baselines and future uncertainty. Frontiers in Marine Science 8: 799543.

Prof. dr Kristien Brans

The team of Kristien Brans studies rapid evolution and eco-evolutionary dynamics (i.e. the reciprocal interaction between evolution and ecology) in freshwater biota in response to anthropogenic disturbances such as urbanization, agriculture, and industrialization and their associated stressors (e.g. heat, chemical pollution, light pollution, salinization, invasive species etc.). By studying adaptive evolution in an eco-evolutionary context, she aims to improve the understanding of ecological dynamics and the fate of freshwater communities under future anthropogenic pressure. She is interested in ‘socio-eco-evolutionary dynamics’ in coupled human and natural systems (CHANS), given that human and natural systems should no longer be considered as separate entities . She combines quantitative genetics, eco-toxicology, experimental evolution, and field studies. Kristien has an expertise in studying phytoplankton and zooplankton, and is eager to start working on taxa with both terrestrial and aquatic life stages (e.g. amphibians, mosquitos).

Brans, K. I., Jansen, M., Vanoverbeke, J., Tüzün, N., Stoks, R., & De Meester, L. (2017). The heat is on: Genetic adaptation to urbanization mediated by thermal tolerance and body size. Global Change Biology, 23, 5218-5227.
Des Roches, S., Brans, K. I., Lambert, M. R., Rivkin, L. R., Savage, A. M., Schell, C. J., . . . Alberti, M. (2021). Socio-eco-evolutionary dynamics in cities. Evolutionary Applications, 14(1), 248-267.
Almeida, R., Lemmens, P., De Meester, L., & Brans, K.I. (2021). Differential local genetic adaptation to pesticide use in organic and conventional agriculture in an aquatic non-target species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B .288:20211903.

Prof. dr Bram Vanschoenwinkel

The Community Ecology Lab, lead by Bram Vanschoenwinkel investigates drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning from local to global scales. They perform fundamental research on the importance of dispersal and habitat selection in ecological communities and the general importance of connectivity for biodiversity. They often work with terrestrial island habitats such as inselbergs and freshwater ecosystems and investigate - among other topics - the impact of global change on the food webs in these ecosystems. Applied research lines focus, for instance, on pollination as an important ecosystem service and wetlands as resources for water birds. Models, experiments, surveys and large scale biodiversity databases are used as resources.

Vandromme, M., van de Sande, E., Pinceel, T., Vanhove, W., Trekels, H., & Vanschoenwinkel, B. (2023). Resolving the identity and breeding habitats of cryptic dipteran cacao flower visitors in a neotropical cacao agroforestry system. Basic and Applied Ecology, 68.
Hagan, J., Vanschoenwinkel, B. & Gamfeldt, L. (2021) We should not necessarily expect positive relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in observational field data. Ecology Letters 24: 2537-2548
Trekels, H. and Vanschoenwinkel, B. (2019), Both local presence and regional distribution of predator cues modulate prey colonisation in pond landscapes. Ecology Letters 22: 89-97

Prof. dr Tom Van der Stocken

The team of Tom Van der Stocken addresses spatial and temporal patterns of species distribution and abundance, conditions and processes that interact to determine these patterns, and interactions with climate change, with a particular emphasis on coastal and marine systems (e.g., mangroves, seagrasses). The dispersal ecology of coastal foundation species is an important component of our research. This ranges from quantifying propagule properties (e.g., size, shape, density, germination rate) to estimating dispersal and connectivity patterns using surface-ocean currents obtained from state-of-the-art ocean circulation models. Our studies span local to global scales, and rely on field and laboratory experiments, modelling, remote sensing, meta-analysis, as well as biodiversity, climate and oceanographic databases, and collaborations with colleagues internationally. Current projects also include the role of coastal blue carbon ecosystems in the global carbon cycle, and focus primarily on quantifying the export, transport and fate of carbon from these systems in the global ocean.

Van der Stocken T., Vanschoenwinkel B., Carroll D., Cavanaugh K. C. and Koedam N. (2022). Mangrove dispersal disrupted by projected changes in global seawater density. Nature Climate Change 12, 685–691.
Van der Stocken T., Wee A. S. W., De Ryck D. J. R., Vanschoenwinkel B., Friess D. A., Dahdouh-Guebas F., Simard M., Koedam N. and E. L. Webb (2019). A general framework for propagule dispersal in mangroves. Biological Reviews 94(4): 1547–1575.
Van der Stocken T., Carroll D., Menemenlis D., Simard M. and N. Koedam (2019). Global-scale dispersal and connectivity in mangroves. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 116(3): 915–922.

Prof. dr Wen-Juan Ma

Wen-Juan is an evolutionary geneticist and genomicist. Her lab (Evolutionary Genomics of Sex, http://www.wmalab.com) studies what drives sexual dimorphism, and the genomic, transcriptomic and molecular basis underlying the differences between the sexes across the tree of life. Major research themes include evolution and origin of sex chromosome recombination suppression and degeneration, sex determination, and evolution and consequences of asexuality. Her lab integrates the cutting-edge OMICs approaches with natural variation, experimental evolution, and selection to study the relationship between genotype and complex sex phenotypes.

W-J Ma, BA Pannebakker, X Li, E Geyverink, SY Anvar, P Veltsos, T Schwander, L van de Zande, LW Beukeboom. (2021). A single QTL with large effect is associated with female functional virginity in an asexual parasitoid wasp. Molecular Ecology 30: 1979-1992.
W-J Ma, P Veltsos, R Sermier, D Parker, N Perrin. (2018). Evolutionary and developmental dynamics of sex-biased gene expressions in the common frogs with proto-Y chromosomes. Genome Biology 19: 156.
DL Jeffries, G Lavanchy, R Sermier, MJ. Sredl, I Miura, A Borzée, LN Barrow, D Canestrelli, P-A Crochet, C Dufresnes, J Fu, W-J Ma, C Macías Garcia, K Ghali, AG Nicieza, RP O’Donnell, N Rodrigues, A Romano, Í Martínez-Solano, I Stepanyan, S Zumbach, A Bresfold, N Perrin. (2018). A rapid rate of sex-chromosome turnover and non-random transitions in true frogs. Nature Communications 9: 4088.

Prof. dr Marc Kochzius

The Marine Biology Lab, lead by Marc Kochzius, investigates the (molecular) ecology of invertebrates and fishes from tropical, temperate and polar seas. The main research topic is the connectivity of populations from coral reefs and mangroves by pelagic early life history stages, which disperse with ocean currents. Exchange among populations is investigated by applying genomics. The analysis of marine communities in relation to environmental parameters is also investigated This includes analyses of anthropogenic disturbances, such as trace metal pollution, which can have negative effects on the community structure and functioning of marine ecosystems.

Delhaye LJ, Elskens M, Ricaurte-Villota C, Cerpa L, Kochzius M (2023) Baseline concentrations, spatial distribution and origin of trace elements in marine surface sediments of the northern Antarctic Peninsula. Marine Pollution Bulletin 187: 114501
Ducret H, Timm J, Rodriguez-Moreno M, Huyghe F, Kochzius M (2022) Strong genetic structure and limited connectivity among populations of Clark's Anemonefish (Amphiprion clarkii) in the centre of marine biodiversity. Coral Reefs 41: 599–609
Bravo H, Cannicci S, Huyghe F, Leermakers M, Sheikh MA, Kochzius M (2021) Ecological health of coral reefs in Zanzibar. Regional Studies in Marine Science 48 (2021) 102014

Prof. dr Sophie De Buyl

Biological systems rely on complex interaction networks at various scales. Using published datasets or working in collaboration with experimentalists, the team of Sophie De Buyl is building models to understand emergent phenomena in biology and predict their temporal evolution. She is particularly interested in decision making during early embryogenesis and in building predictive dynamic models for microbial communities. All projects rely on the theory of non-linear dynamics, statistical learning and statistical physics techniques.

Williaume, G., de Buyl, S., Sirour, C., Haupaix, N., Bettoni, R., Imai, K. S., Satou, Y., Dupont, G., Hudson, C., & Yasuo, H. (2021). Cell geometry, signal dampening, and a bimodal transcriptional response underlie the spatial precision of an ERK-mediated embryonic induction. Developmental Cell, 56(21). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2021.09.025
Descheemaeker, L., & de Buyl, S. (2020). Stochastic logistic models reproduce experimental time series of microbial communities. ELife, 9. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.55650
Teng, S. W., Mukherji, S., Moffitt, J. R., de Buyl, S., & O’Shea, E. K. (2013). Robust circadian oscillations in growing cyanobacteria require transcriptional feedback. Science, 340(6133). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1230996