Research groups that operate wholly or partly under the Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme.
The groups are presented in alphabetical order by the last name of the group leader.
Plant growth is limited by growth conditions. In our group we focus on identification of molecular mechanisms activated by reactive oxygen species that contribute to defense signaling, ultimately leading to adaptation to abiotic stress.
The global community is striving to counteract the loss of biodiversity in a number of ways. Our principal aim is to investigate successes and failures of these conservation approaches, and apply lessons learned to develop effective conservation strategies from local to global scale. We work with apparently diverse topics (from movement ecology of bats and rats to pollution impacts on indigenous peoples or human-carnivore conflicts) and in disparate settings (from remote Kenyan protected lands to back alleys in the city of Helsinki), yet what unites our research is a truly interdisciplinary approach. Applied conservation is our final aim, yet our work is based on strong fundamental ecological and social research, attending to theoretical and methodological developments. With a research philosophy rooted in integrating mixed methodologies, we focus our efforts on providing policy-relevant science of high societal impact.
Environments around the world are changing rapidly because of human activities. We investigate how organisms respond to these changes - focussing on their behavioural responses - and the consequences the responses have for populations, communities and ecosystems.
Our research topics range from effects of specific stressors, like climate change and light pollution, to how negative effects can be mitigated, using various species as model organisms, both terrestrial and aquatic. In addition, we synthesise the field through reviews, both traditional and systematic, and build conceptual frameworks to generate predictions and guide empirical and theoretical work.
This Centre of Excellence is composed of several principal Investigators and their research groups.
Unraveling the carbon sequestration in trees and its potential improvement to mitigate climate change requires knowledge from and interaction between many branches of science and society. Understanding of the carbon sink effect in trees at a molecular level is still relatively superficial compared to many other aspects of this complex problem. The Principal Investigators of TreeBio CoE constitute a long tradition and scientific continuum of the studies on the physiology and genetic regulation of CO2 uptake through stomata, long distance transport and radial growth in trees. In order to approach the tree traits significant for the carbon sink effect and to integrate our research on the role of trees in forest vegetation as key carbon storage, we are consolidating here our approach by expanding our consortium to a multidisciplinary team representing a broad base in tree genetics, physiology and computational modelling of whole tree physiology.
Host-symbiont interactions provide ideal models for exploring diverse evolutionary and ecological processes. These relationships, spanning the continuum from mutualism to parasitism, have profound implications across multiple fields.
At the ISEE lab, we integrate bottom-up (focused on specific interactions) and top-down (addressing broader community and ecosystem dynamics) approaches to investigate how symbiotic micro-organisms influence insect host communities. We also study how the diverse interactions within species networks facilitate the dispersal and ecological success of their endosymbionts.
Our group is a consortium of multiple principal investigators working around the common theme of sociality, behaviour and evolution. We are fascinated by the effects of sociality and behaviour on evolution. Our group is multi-disciplinary and has strengths in genomics, genetics, theoretical biology and behavioural ecology.
How do species adapt to changing environments? How does genetic variation map onto phenotypic variation, and ultimately fitness? We address these questions with a mix of theoretical (modelling) and experimental approaches. We use experimental evolution in the lab with the beetle Tribolium castaneum to unravel the evolutionary importance of genetic and phenotypic changes over time utilizing genomics and quantitative genetics data. With models we seek to understand how evolutionary constraints affect the pace of adaptation to fluctuating environments in different species with different genetic architectures and different life-history strategies.
We also develop Nemo, a forward-time genetics and population simulation software.
The vascular network consisting of phloem and xylem (wood) provides plants with structural support and long-distance transport that specifies further downstream processes in the sink tissues (such as wood in a tree trunk or edible storage organ typical for vegetables and fruit). Our group has been pioneering the understanding of phloem development and vascular meristem, (pro)cambial, function in plants. Using the information derived from analysis of Arabidopsis phloem development, we focus on understanding and engineering cambial development in tree species.
We develop computational methods to compare and classify data pouring out from genome sequencing and structural genomics projects. For example, we have developed an ultrafast database search method which enables high-throughput functional and taxonomic assignment as well as error detection and correction based on a consensus over homologues. We have expertise in big data, data science, evolutionary classification, and software development.
Our main research directions are:
NorEcoFun group studies biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in Northern ecosystems – boreal forest and tundra. We focus on plant communities, which form the foundation of ecosystems. This foundation is changing especially in tundra and boreal forest due to climate and land use changes. For predicting the community changes and understanding their consequences for ecosystem functioning, we investigate
We study how light affects the growth, chemical composition and ageing of plants. Many stress-induced phytochemicals affect the resilience, color, flavor and nutritional value of vegetables. Our aim is to apply the basic knowledge of plant photobiology for improved indoor cultivation and post-harvest quality of vegetables.
Biodiversity is changing. The related mechanisms and general patterns are the focus of the Biodiversity Change research group. We provide fundamental research and primary data on biodiversity change by combining theories and methods from ecology and geography. Responsible and open practices is our path in research, teaching and outreach.
What are the origins of the remarkable diversity we see in nature?
The diversity of form and function that we can observe on all levels of biological complexity is one of the most fascinating phenomena of the living world. The Integrative Evolutionary Biology (IEB) lab uses coloration phenotypes of tropical fish species as a model to understand the genomic, developmental, and cellular mechanisms that underlie their spectacular diversity as well as the forces that shape their evolution.
In the Wildlife Ecology Research (WildER) group, we investigate how animals interact with their environment and each other by researching connections between phenotypes, genotypes, species and communities. Based at the University of Helsinki’s Lammi Biological Station, our research begins in our own backyard and extends to Europe through our collaborators. Our work with the Eurasian lynx incorporates aspects from the phenotype to landscape scale to gain a broader understanding of wildlife ecology and forest habitat conservation. Their large home ranges and comparatively low density make the lynx a fascinating species to investigate strategies for acoustic communication. We pioneer non-invasive methods for research and develop and test technology to foster human-wildlife coexistence.
Our lab has long-standing interests to understand the behavioural and genetic processes that underscore variation in animal interactions. Our main line of questioning investigates the evolution of polymorphism within populations and divergence between populations. Experimental studies in the lab and field are our speciality.
Our group is studying the development of vascular cambium by using Arabidopsis thaliana root as a model. Vascular cambium produces xylem (wood) and phloem, and together with the cork cambium, which produces a protective layer at the surface called phellem (cork), they provide thickness to plant organs. We combine lineage tracing and microscopy with molecular genetics to understand growth dynamics of the stem cells of the vascular cambium at a cellular resolution. In the recently funded ERC project, we have also started to identify the stem cells of cork cambium. The long term aim is to understand how cork and vascular cambia together coordinate and orchestrate radial thickening.
Our research aims to understand how biodiversity is distributed across the world. However, human impacts, such as climate change, land use change, pollution, nutrient enrichment and invasive species are likely to have a disruptive effect on biodiversity, and so our research further aims to understand the magnitude and direction of those disruptions to communities as well as the global patterns of diversity. We often focus on soil biodiversity, as an underrepresented but large proportion of global biodiversity. To undertake this research, we primarily use synthesised datasets constructed to answer our research questions. The datasets are often comprised of raw data from published studies, or published results in a meta-analytical framework.
We employ cutting-edge genomic techniques on historical DNA (hDNA) from non-model plant species as well as their microbial communities to investigate complex evolutionary processes underpinning plant biodiversity.
Our research capitalizes on the unique opportunities provided by the relatively simple genetic architectures of several life history traits in fishes, combined with the strengths of commercially important fishes as models for functional genomic, ecological and evolutionary research. Our aim is to link genotype, phenotype and fitness of important life-history traits using approaches ranging from investigating the cellular-level processes in the laboratory to estimating reproductive success in completely natural populations. We also apply the knowledge we obtain for improving conservation and management of these species. Our research is funded by the ERC, the Academy of Finland as well as other local agencies.
The REC consists of four Principal Investigators, their research groups and other affiliated researchers.
Ecological processes are crucial for maintaining biodiversity, which in turn supports both human health and the economy. In Finland, we have a unique knowledge reserve composed of long-term series of nature observations. By fully utilising this reserve, we can understand environmental change and their impacts on communities of organisms and the ecosystem services they provide. In REC, we bring together the leading experts in the field, along with the data creators, to tap into this reserve, to develop new methods, and to disseminate the results to relevant stakeholders.
CanSEE studies how plants respond to changes in spectral composition, how these cues are processed and received by leaves and by the whole plant. We place this research in context, considering how the spectral irradiance perceived by plants changes depending on their environment.
Life-History Evolution research group focuses on understanding how organisms cope with environmental variation in nature, such as habitat fragmentation or environmental stress. Our main study system is the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) metapopulation in the Åland Islands.
Our overall aim is to study evolution; speciation, adaptation and host-microbe interactions in plants using statistical modeling and different -omics data sources.
Our research group studies stomatal function at a molecular level to uncover mechanisms by which guard cells sense and respond to environmental changes. We also investigate the molecular components that connect stomatal function with the regulation of water movement in the vasculature. Our research expands to the study of plant stress perception and signalling, including both abiotic and biotic factors.
We aim to understand how ecological and environmental processes shape the world we live in. For this we work in the interface of ecology, environmental sciences, and statistics. Our research interests span from statistical methods development to ecological research and environmental sciences. We also actively apply our research to more applied questions such as environmental management and risk assessment. We work at the Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Program (Faculty of Biosciences and Environmental Sciences) and at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics (Faculty of Science).
We study regulation of stomatal development and we are interested how environmental fluctuations modify this process at the molecular level. When stomatal lineage behavior is modified this alters not only stomatal numbers, but also numbers of non-stomatal cells. Thus, regulation of stomatal development is essential for formation of a leaf suitable for prevailing environmental conditions and it also impacts plants resource allocation, CO2 uptake and water loss. Our goal is to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying the stomatal developmental plasticity in seed plants.
According to the classical understanding of plant gas exchange, the uncontrolled loss of water from plant aerial organs is restricted by epidermis that is covered by a hydrophobic layer called cuticle. Because of these properties, the majority of plant gas exchange occurs through stomata. Consequently, composition of cuticle and fast guard cell signaling are thought to be the major factors limiting transpiration. We are expanding this classical model with the use of forward genetic approaches. Our results indicate that modifications of cell wall structure and composition leading to e.g. loss of cell adhesion, can affect plant gas exchange independently of cuticle synthesis and guard cell function.
We are interested in human-animal relationships and animal emotions. We investigate human perception and interpretation of animal emotions, as well as possibilities to improve techniques to measure those emotions.
The seasonality of plants is strongly affected by low temperatures in northern ecosystems. Winter is regarded as a resting period when the metabolic activity of dormant plants is very low. However, plants that overwinter in the sheltered environment under snow show significant metabolic activity, and overwintering processes affect plant performance during the growing season.
We are studying various aspects of seasonality of plants, emphasizing the significance of the whole annual cycle. This approach helps us to understand how plants respond to climatic warming in a seasonal climate.