Evolution in stage structured populations

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Life cycle stages are a ubiquitous feature of organisms. From stages of cell division in green algae, to the stages of egg, larvae, pupae and winged adults in moths, these stages represent functionally different biological points in an organism's life with different resource needs and different life history traits (i.e., birth, death and development rates). As we are beginning to understand, such 'stage-structure' in a population can have an impact on biological dynamics that is relevant to management, conservation and understanding the long-term response of these populations to environmental change. My research aims to develop a predictive link from organism life histories to ecological & evolutionary dynamics. I use an interdisciplinary approach of theoretical and experimental biology, which involves developing mathematical models that are experimentally tested at both the individual-scale and population-scale. In this grant, we will advance our understanding of evolution in stage-structured populations. In particular, we will study how population dynamics influence life history evolution and-in turn-the impact evolution has on ecological dynamics. Our experiments will use two biological systems with stage-structured life histories, but that differ in their evolutionary processes: i) a pathogen-freshwater zooplankton-algae system and ii) a terrestrial beetle-bean resource system. HQP will receive training at the interface of mathematical biology and experimental biology, which gives them skills that are in demand for careers in medicine, research (government and academic), policy and environmental consulting. Structured systems are common in nature. Some of the systems are important in economically and socially important areas, such as the dynamics of sockeye salmon, infestations of mountain pine beetles, outbreaks of spruce budworm, management of cod stocks. The contribution of our research will be the development of a theoretical framework for understanding evolution in structured systems that is likely applicable to a range of biological systems, and which has been tested experimentally.