Genomic tools provide powerful insights into how species colonise, diversify, and adapt to island environments, revealing the mechanisms underlying speciation, hybridisation, and evolutionary innovation. In parallel, computational and comparative approaches allow us to reconstruct demographic histories and test hypotheses about adaptation and diversification.
By integrating genomics, evolutionary theory, and bioinformatics, we aim to understand how biodiversity evolves across island systems and how these processes inform broader patterns of evolution and conservation.
Our research
Research Areas: Evolutionary Genomics and Island Biology
Research Subjects: Biodiversity, Adaptation, Speciation, Hybridisation, Population Genomics
Our research focuses on understanding the evolution of biodiversity, with a particular emphasis on island systems and natural populations.
We investigate how species colonise islands, diversify into new lineages, and adapt to novel ecological conditions. Using genomic data, we aim to:
- reconstruct the demographic and evolutionary history of populations, including colonisation, gene flow, and hybridisation;
- identify the basis of adaptation and diversification;
- understand the dynamics of genome evolution
This work provides key insights into the processes that generate and maintain biodiversity, particularly in isolated and rapidly changing environments.
To address these questions, we integrate whole-genome sequencing, population genomics, comparative genomics, and simulation-based approaches. Our work also involves developing and applying new computational tools to analyse complex genomic datasets and understand evolutionary processes.
We study a wide range of organisms across global island systems, including plants (e.g. island radiations such as Diplotaxis, Scalesia and Argyranthemum), birds, and other taxa. Our research spans multiple archipelagos, including Cabo Verde, the Canary Islands, the Indo-Pacific, and other island systems that provide key insights into evolutionary dynamics.
Research topics
- Island colonisation and demographic history
- Adaptive radiation and diversification
- Hybridisation and genome evolution
- Comparative and population genomics
- Evolution of biodiversity in island systems
- Development of computational tools for evolutionary genomics
- For more information see our external website:
- https://islandevolution.github.io/ External link.
Potential projects
If you are looking for a Master’s, PhD or Postdoctoral project using genomics, bioinformatics, and evolutionary biology, potential topics include:
- Evolution and diversification of island radiations
- Population genomics of island birds and other taxa
- Hybridisation and genome evolution in natural populations
- Genomic basis of adaptation to island environments
- Development of bioinformatic tools for evolutionary inference
- Comparative genomics across island systems
Principal Investigator
José Cerca | Researcher
