Natural selection is the most important process that leads to adaptive change. The phenotype is the integral of a species’ natural history. Current changes in its environment pose new selection pressures that lead to sometimes observable, changes in phenotypes. We can utilise such environmental changes, like a natural experiment, to identify trade-offs and further our knowledge of the adaptive potential of the focal species. Such information can be of great importance in conservation biology, for climate change biology and urban ecology.

The aim of my research is to understand the origin and maintenance of within- and between-individual variation in social traits. I use an interdisciplinary approach to explore (1) the influence of the environmental with a focus on human-induced changes (urban ecology) and the social environment created by conspecifics (indirect effects), (2) the evolutionary significance of variation and (3) its physiological and genetic basis, and potential constrains for evolution and local adaptation.