Eco-evolutionary dynamics: revealing global patterns across the microbial eukaryote tree of life

A central goal in biology is to determine the factors underlying global patterns of biodiversity. These biodiversity patterns have been better studied in multicellular groups such as animals and plants.

However, we know extremely little about the drivers of biodiversity patterns in microbial eukaryotes (i.e. protists), despite the fact that they represent the vast majority of eukaryotic diversity.

In this project, I will use large environmental metabarcoding and genomic sequencing data in a phylogenetic framework to investigate how the vast diversity of protists has been shaped by the interplay of ecological and evolutionary processes.

I will address: (1) Do terrestrial habitats promote higher diversification rates across all eukaryotes? (2) Do closely related protists occupy similar ecological niches? (3) Using diatoms as a case study, how do protist genomes evolve to adapt to different ecological conditions? I will conduct this research over a period of three years, together with the labs of Prof.

Micah Dunthorn (University of Oslo), Prof. Hélène Morlon (ENS Paris), and Prof.

Stefan Bertilsson (SLU Uppsala), all of whom have complementary expertise in macroecological and macroevolutionary analyses.

The proposal presents the first comprehensive analysis of eco-evolutionary dynamics across a broad taxonomic scale and will contribute to our understanding of the forces that have shaped present-day eukaryotic diversity.