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Contact:
Metapopulation Research Group Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences PO Box 65 (Viikinkaari 1) FI-00014 University of Helsinki FINLAND phone +358 9 1911 (Exchange) firstname.lastname(at)helsinki.fi Comments on the pages to
Watch the video of the brave explorers from MRG on Madagascar! |
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Profile I joined the group in January 2005 as a PhD student. I am especially interested in interactions between an individual's physiology and its environment and the effect they have on a population and metapopulation level. My MS thesis dealt with within-winter and between-winters variation in the basal metabolic rate of Great Tits Parus major wintering in harsh conditions in northern Finland . The study showed that birds are able to adjust metabolically to short term changes of environmental conditions. This may be important as cold temperatures restrict the minimum thermogenic capacity whereas the maximum capacity is restricted by limited food availability and possible oxidative damage that may decrease future fecundity. Research In the spring of 2005 I will start working with the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia, performing experiments helping us to understand the background of previously detected between-population variation in mobility of M. cinxia . Previous studies have shown that mobility is higher in individuals of newly established populations with low connectivity compared to high connectivity old populations. Dissimilarities in flight performance can be traced to variation in flight metabolism, indicated by CO2 production, ATP/ADP ratio, and type of pgi -allozymes. By measuring butterflies from both old and new populations we learn about the between-population variation and gain insight on the correlation of different aspects of flight metabolism. An other point of view is to combine measurements of flight metabolism with observational studies of habitat edge-mediated behaviour. The reaction to habitat boundaries is an important factor when modelling for female life time dispersal and possible individual variation is important to detect. As a whole, monitoring variation in flight metabolism will help us to a better understanding of dispersal dynamics within a metapopulation. |
