Congratulations to Ina Satokangas for a successful defense of her PhD Dissertation!

Ina successfully defended her doctoral dissertation ‘’ with ‘Pass with distinction’ grade. Her thesis assesses the impact of hybridisation on adaptation and speciation by using genomic information from five Finnish wood ant species (Formica spp). 

The thesis reveals extensive signals of hybridisation and introgression, exploring how these processes influence adaptation to different climates and potentially impact species persistence. It shifts the traditional emphasis on gene flow between two species to a broader examination of gene flow within an entire species group, encompassing multiple interacting lineages. Additionally, it questions the longstanding view that hybridisation is harmful, demonstrating instead how hybridisation and gene flow may aid in adaptation to novel environments. 

Next, Ina will move on to work in the research group to study structural genomic variation behind coloration and sex determination in East African cichlids!