Although there is no difficulty in theory in estimating fitnesses, in practice, the difficulties are virtually insuperable” (Lewontin, 1974).Fitness is a key concept in evolutionary biology. In many models, this is a quantity that can be defined without (too much) ambiguity. When it comes to test these models of evolution and measure fitness empirically, however, many difficulties arise, in addition to these definitional problems. In this presentation, I will try to summarize and provide an overview of these issues. I will present different approaches to measure fitness in the lab or in the field, distinguishing 'forward' and 'backward' methods. To illustrate each case, I will use examples from my work that include some of the most precise estimates that have been obtained to date. I will finally relate the problems of fitness measures to important debates in evolutionary biology.

Título: Modelling the biomass of Doñana's marsh vegetation using land surface phenology Resumen: Doñana marsh is one of the most important wetlands in Europe; however, it is under extreme human pressure. Remote sensing techniques have proved to be an effective method for modeling and monitoring biomass. The main objective of this project was to model the Doñana marsh biomass, to study the vegetation dynamics of the last 15 years and at the same time to predict the biomass in the future. This project consisted in four different steps: first, to mode the phenological curve, second, to calibrate the metrics of the phenological curve with the biomass production, third, to validate the model, and fourth, to map the biomass and analyze the main patterns of distribution and production. The results showed that it was possible to model the biomass production on the marsh using the NDVI; however it was clear that the high variability of the marsh made the process of modelling challenging. This variability is the result of a highly dynamic ecosystem that interplays water, soil, vegetation, and the presence of cattle. We hope this research can be a starting point to a more deeply research into the Doñana marsh biomass and be a tool for scientifically based management of the cattle in the marsh.?

, Why (and how) do sperm find their way to particular conspecific eggs?Sexual selection (essentially the competition for mates) is traditionally studied in highly mobile organisms with complex behavioural repertoires, sophisticated visual systems, and obvious adaptations that function in the context of increasing reproductive fitness. It is far less obvious how sexual selection operates in organisms that are immobile (e.g. clamped to the seabed) and release gametes seemingly haphazardly into the external environment (i.e. sessile or sedentary external fertilizers). Indeed, Charles Darwin comically dismissed the possibility of sexual selection in such taxa in his original treatise of the topic, arguing that these organisms have ‘too low mental powers’ to be capable of the subtleties of mate choice and mating competition. The aim of this talk will be to convince you otherwise. I will summarise a series of playful experiments on mussels and sea urchins that led to the observation that these taxa exhibit sophisticated processes of sperm-egg interaction that ultimately facilitate sexual selection at the level of the gamete. Our work on these systems has revealed preliminary insights into the complex patterns of selection on ejaculates and tantalizing evidence that eggs release subtle variations in chemical signals that may facilitate the fusion of genetically compatible gametes. I’ll end the talk with some inevitable speculation on the mechanisms that might drive these processes, with the firm hope that someone far more qualified than me will put me on the right track.

The Macroecology of Host-Parasite Interactions. Community composition of both host and helminth species differs as a function of spatial location. As a result, interactions between helminth parasites and their host species may vary spatially, with potential implications to species demographics and distributions. I use a global database of host-helminth interactions to explore spatial patterns in community composition, network structure, and the consistency of species roles in host-helminth interaction networks.

Vector-borne pathogens play an important role in the regulation of wild populations and are model systems for ecological and evolutionary studies. The evolution of these systems is the result of triangular affairs between the parasite, the vector (mosquito) and the vertebrate host. Vectors present important interspecific and interpopulation differences in their feeding behaviour and consequently, interact with their pathogens with different frequencies. As model systems, we will use two multi-host/multi-vector pathogens (Plasmodium and West Nile virus), both transmitted by mosquitoes, and Turdus merula and Passer domesticus like a host. In particular, we will analyse how different host individual characteristics may affect vector attraction and how the heterogeneity on host attractiveness may affect the transmission dynamics of pathogens. We will focus special attention of odorant bird, the feeding behaviour of mosquitoes (mammals vs birds) and the influence of the parasite in the vector and host behaviour. This information may increase our understanding on the dynamics of transmission of numerous vector borne diseases, including pathogens potentially dangerous for humans and wildlife.

Epidemiological models for the transmission of infectious diseases used to assume that different hosts are equally appealing to their vectors, that vectors and hosts interact randomly and tended to ignore the impact of host-trait heterogeneity on disease transmission. However, recent studies have shown that mosquitoes feed disproportionately on some host species in relation to what may be expected from their relative abundance. This phenomenon may dramatically alter the host-pathogen contact rate and thus the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. My thesis will focus on identifying the impact of host morphology, infection status and condition of the attractiveness for blood-seeking mosquitoes. First, we will review what sort of traits may serve as searching cues for host-seeking mosquitoes. Second, we will investigate the relationship between different bird traits (e.g. morphology, metabolism, infection status,) and mosquito attraction at intra- and interspecific levels. Finally, how the competence of different bird species as host of West Nile virus is related to taxonomy and immune system characteristics. By far, we have achieved some preliminary results but your suggestions will be highly welcome for our upcoming works.

Can RAD-Seq help sea turtle conservation? Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research , Berlin. Department of Evolutionary Genetics From vulnerable to critically endangered, the seven existing sea turtle species have long suffered from anthropogenic actions, such as overhunting/poaching, large-scale fishing activities, pollution and habitat degradation. Different phenomena such as hybridization and extreme low molecular diversity have been detected for some populations in different studies, but it is unclear how the recent pressures have been involved in changes in the evolutionary history of sea turtles. The amount and diversity of molecular markers available to study such influences is still very low and analyses lack statistical confidence in many cases due to low variation and/or high levels of shared SNPs. We have decided to use one single genomic approach that can boost the number and variety of nuclear molecular markers available for all sea turtle species. Assuming a deceleration of evolutionary rates in sea turtles, we have used the same Double-Digest Restriction Associated DNA (ddRAD) sequencing methodology for the five sea turtle species with worldwide distribution and generated thousands of new molecular markers that will be useful for a large number of important conservational questions, such as levels of population structuring and composition of mixed-stock. The approach we present in this study is a simple but effective solution to largely deepen the knowledge upon ddRAD data produced that can be transferred to virtually any given species or population

Assessing the effects of climate change on aquatic insects of alpine ponds Abstract When environmental conditions change, what determines whether biodiversity will be maintained? This question remains one of the greatest and most pressing challenges facing ecologists and evolutionary biologists because of the unprecedented magnitude of environmental change resulting from human activities. Accurate assessments of species' vulnerability to climate change require integrated measurements of its different drivers, including extrinsic (the magnitude and rate of climate change) and intrinsic factors (organisms' sensitivity and adaptive capacity). While most evaluations of species vulnerability rely on species distribution models, which allow predicting suitable habitat under future climatic conditions, these models often underestimate the actual species' ability to live under climatic conditions outside their realised niche. Measurements of the fundamental niche breadth and physiological plasticity could complement SDM providing a more complete estimation of species vulnerability. High-altitude systems, which harbour a high rate of endemism, are considered particularly vulnerable to climate change as they will experience some of the fastest rates of warming on the planet. Nonetheless, to date, predictions of the effects of climate change in alpine systems are scarce for standing water macroinvertebrates. Using as model system diving beetles restricted to Sierra Nevada mountain range, we have assessed the vulnerability to climate change in aquatic insect populations of alpine ponds by using an integrative methodology that combines distributional and climatic data, and thermal tolerance experiments. Species distribution models predict a virtual loss of climatically suitable area under different climate change scenarios. However, the studied taxa show heat tolerance limits above the predicted maximum temperatures in their current localities (but no capacity to adjust such limits through acclimation). Therefore, these beetles could have certain physiological capacity to deal with warming conditions in situ. Our results stress the importance of accounting for physiological tolerances when predicting the vulnerability to climate change in alpine freshwater biota.

Eduardo de la Peña (IHSM-CSIC/ Univ. Gent), A pesar de la inmensa diversidad de especies que habitan en el suelo y de su importancia funcional tanto a nivel de comunidad como de ecosistema, la teoría ecológica ha tenido principalmente en cuenta las interacciones que ocurren en la parte aérea de las plantas dando menor importancia a lo que ocurre en el suelo. Sin embargo, durante la última década se ha revelado la importancia que tienen las interacciones planta-suelo sobre diferentes procesos que se dan en la parte aérea. Estos estudios han demostrado que estas interacciones son imprescindibles no sólo para entender la dinámica de la comunidad vegetal sino también las respuestas de otros niveles tróficos como son los herbívoros foliares, sus enemigos naturales, polinizadores, etc. Durante mi presentación analizaré este tipo de relaciones en algunos sistemas naturales (dunas costeras, brezales atlánticos, bosques templados caducifolios) que ilustran la importancia de estas interacciones para el funcionamiento y dinámica de la comunidad vegetal y sus implicaciones en el manejo y la restauración de ecosistemas

Let the niche be functional, Isabelle Chuine (Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolotive, Montpellier). Hutchinson definition of the niche has had a tremendous impact on niche modelling and inspired the most prolific species distribution models (SDMs) ever. Those models, called correlative SDM, relate statistically the species presence/absence to various environmental descriptors. They are very much specific and precise, but lack some generality and realisms in the sense of Levins. In this talk I propose another definition of the niche based on species traits and present a new generation of SDMs, namely process-based SMDs, that I use to predict the geographical distribution of forest tree species in Europe. Process-based models are sometimes less precise than correlative models, but are more realistic and more general. I will present some recent results on projections of species future distribution changes as well as projections of past changes (Holocene). Finally I will present how such models can be used to study the impact of phenotypic plasticity on range size and distribution changes, as well as current and future selection gradient of key adaptive traits.

Epigenetic regulation of host-parasite interactions in human malaria Human malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium, transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. Human malaria parasites have a complex life-cycle with two host: the human and the mosquito. Most of previous research has focused on the human compartment and mainly involved laboratory experiments in vitro, while we know little about the host-parasite interactions during the mosquito life-cycle. Both the parasite and the mosquito display plasticity in life-history traits like parasite virulence and mosquito resistance, as a result of the interaction and heterogeneity in their environments. Epigenetic processes provide mechanisms for fast and reversible phenotypic variation in the context of parasitic interactions. In this scientific context, my PhD project aims at applying various –omics approaches to study chromatin-associated transcriptional regulation underlying the adaptations between Plasmodium falciparum and their hosts. In a first section I will focus on the parasite, in particular how the P. falciparum regulates its genome to transit through different hosts and survive under variable within host environments. In the second section, I will present our work onto the role of epigenetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic and transcriptional responses of the mosquito, An. gambiae, to an infection by the human malaria parasite P. falciparum.

"Importancia de las áreas protegidas por la conservación de especies amenazadas: declive y potencial extinción del Milano real en el Parque Nacional de Doñana" Sesiones Informativas END

Ecología a largo plazo de la reserva de pesca de la desembocadura del río guadalquivir: biodiversidad, estructura trófica y funcionamiento del ecosistema y su función de cría. guadalquivir-lter.

Puede ocurrir que se pierda la noción del carácter exótico de especies que se introdujeron hace mucho tiempo. Pareciera que cangrejos de río los hubiera habido en España de siempre, porque aquí estaban al menos desde antes de que naciera la persona más vieja que haya conocido la persona de más edad que viva hoy. Pero la revisión de la información generada desde diversas disciplinas muestra que una introducción desde Italia es la única explicación parsimoniosa para la presencia de Astropotamobius italicus (el “cangrejo autóctono”, tiene su gracia) en la península ibérica.

From thermal to flyway: how innate and external factors shape migration patterns of long-lived raptors?? Bird migrations have stumped humankind for millennia and inspired some particularly crazy theories among the naturalists of yore. Even now we realise that swallows don't hibernate on the bottom of lakes we still know very little about the lives of migrant birds outside the western world, and how they find their way across the globe. Thankfully, however, the advent of advanced biologging tools and remote sensing technology increasingly enables us to escape our ground-based human perception of the world, and to try and look at the world from a migrant bird's perspective. Large and long-lived raptors are especially useful study species in this regard because they can carry tracking devices capable of measuring behaviour with high resolution and precision at a global scale and for long periods of time. In this talk, I will summarise how I have combined movement data and atmospheric models to understand how weather shapes the flexible migration strategies of European Honey Buzzards (Pernis apivorus) from local to flyway scales. Using longitudinal tracking data I will further show how population-specific flyways of this species emerge from a largely stochastic individual learning process, even though soaring raptors are usually thought to learn traditional flyways through cultural inheritance. My talk will end with a brief outline of the research I am conducting into the migration strategies of Eleonora's Falcons (Falco eleonorae) for my JdlC postdoc at EBD.

The diversification history of highly host-specific symbionts: the case of bird feather mites Since Heinrich Fahrenholz proposed his rule back in 1913, the idea of symbionts speciating following host speciation (i.e., cospeciating) has dominated research on parasite evolutionary ecology. Recent studies, however, have shown that host-shift speciation (speciation after switching to a new host species) is almost as relevant as cospeciation in explaining symbiont diversification. The relative importance of these processes is highly variable among host-symbiont systems and ranges from strict cospeciation to extensive host-switching, according to system features such as the mode of transmission of symbionts: permanent and vertically transmitted symbionts, such as bird feather mites, belong to the extreme end of the continuum in which cospeciation alone should explain symbiont diversification. In this thesis, we have first developed tools for the study of feather mites, and we have investigated key aspects of their ecology relevant to understand their evolution. Then, with the help of this knowledge and tools, we studied the diversification history of feather mites in a macroecological context. In this talk, I will give an overview of these results and of ongoing works. Overall, I will show the unexpected relevance of host-shift speciation on the diversification history of feather mites. And, lastly, in the light of ecological fitting theory, I will discuss why host-shift speciation should no longer be considered irrelevant even for permanent and highly host-specific symbionts.

Título: Biogeographic insights from past and present megafauna DNA Resumen: Next-generation DNA sequencing has revolutionized the way we can study evolutionary and ecological processes using genomic data. In this talk, I will show how genomic data can be used in an evolutionary and ecological context, to understand the past and present diversity, distribution, and dynamics of megafauna (large mammal) species and communities. I will discuss how DNA retrieved from ancient material including the bones, teeth and gut content of Late Pleistocene megafauna can be used to infer the past ecology and population dynamics of extinct species, and demonstrate how DNA extracted from sediments can be used to reconstruct the palaeoenvironments once inhabited by these Ice Age giants. Furthermore, using genome-wide data from the polar bear, I will demonstrate how population genomics has been used to estimate the age of the species, reconstruct the joint demographic history of polar bear and brown bear, and identify candidate genes under positive selection in the polar bear lineage that have enabled the species to survive the extreme conditions of life in the High Arctic.

"El no va más: Avian diversification within oceanic islands" Borja Milá Investigador Distinguido Departamento Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales - CSIC https://borjamila.com Recently diverged taxa showing marked phenotypic and ecological diversity are optimal systems to understand the genetic processes underlying speciation. We used genome-wide markers to investigate the diversification of the Reunion gray white eye (Zosterops borbonicus) on the small volcanic island of Reunion (Mascarene archipelago), where this species complex exhibits four geographic forms that are parapatrically distributed across the island and differ strikingly in plumage color. Using population genomic and phylogenetic analyses, we reconstructed the population history of the different forms and confirmed the monophyly of the complex. One form restricted to the highlands is separated by a steep ecological gradient from three distinct lowland forms which meet at narrow hybrid zones that are not associated with environmental variables. Landscapes of genomic variation reveal that signatures of selection associated with elevation can be found at multiple regions across the genome, whereas most loci associated with the lowland forms are located on the Z sex chromosome. We identified TYRP1, a Z-linked color gene, as a likely candidate locus underlying color variation among lowland forms. Overall, low dispersal capabilities in this island bird combined with both geographical and ecological opportunities seem to explain how divergence occurred at such a small spatial scale. I will also present some new results from a similar case of recent within-island divergence driven by ecological opportunity in the common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) within the island of La Palma.

Título: Transgenerational plasticity in Daphnia and Callosobruchus: insights into mechanisms and evolutionary implications across model systems. Resumen: Natural selection shapes phenotypic diversity within and among populations, and can result in genetic changes. Traditionally, a genocentric point of view has dominated the way that phenotypic variation has been considered. Phenotypes have been seen as the combination of genetic plus environmental influences, and for most part of the last century, only influences due to variation in DNA sequence were thought to transmit information across generations. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that this picture is not complete. From the phenomenon of phenotypic plasticity, when a given genotype can express different phenotypes depending on environmental conditions, to parental effects, when an influence on the offspring phenotype is genetically determined in the parent but not genetically transmitted, to several mechanisms of non-genetic inheritance that are implicated in gene regulation, it is obvious that a more diverse array of factors, mechanisms and implications of cross-generational hereditary information transmission need to be considered in evolutionary biology. My thesis will focus on some of these aspects of non-genetic inheritance. Using two tractable model systems, an insect and a crustacean, I will establish the existence of transgenerational effects (effects on the phenotype of descendants that are above and beyond those strictly determined by DNA sequence), and will further explore their evolutionary implications, including their effects on individual fitness and their role in adaptation under rapid environmental change. In addition, I will study the mechanisms underlying these transgenerational effects, focusing on those due to epigenetic regulation of gene expression, and those in the form of maternal and paternal effects.

The evolutionary ecology of phenotypic plasticity of laying date in the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca Phenotypic plasticity defined as the ability of a genotype to alter its phenotype in direct response to changes in the environment, provides the potential for organisms to respond rapidly and effectively to environmental change. Global change has led to advances in the timing of breeding of birds (laying date) with strong consequences for the genetic contribution of individuals to the next generation. However, we know rather little about the role of phenotypic plasticity in wild populations as evolutionary mechanism. The aim of this PhD project is to explore the role of plasticity of laying date in a population of pied flycatchers, Ficedula hypoleuca, tracked since 1987 in central Spain on local adaptation to current environmental variation. The first point of my PhD is to detect the environmental factors i.e. agents of selection, that lead evolutionary adaptation. Multiple environmental conditions can act as selective agents and influence laying date and their fitness consequences. In a second time, I will focus on exploring the between and within-individual variation (reaction norms) on laying date according to the major environmental factors detected before. Third, I will determine the evolutionary potential of phenotypic plasticity, tackling explicitly whether plasticity at the level of genotypes occur. Forth, and finally, I will explore the demographic consequences of phenotypic plasticity under scenarios of climate change. The uniting goal of my PhD is understanding the role of phenotypic