Biology and Evolution of Animal Populations

Integrated approaches to understanding the structure, evolution, and adaptations of populations.

Our population biologists adopt integrative approaches to determine the structure of animal populations—encompassing demographic parameters such as size, age composition, and sex ratios—while also addressing intra-population interactions and long-term trends in numbers. By coupling demographic analyses with evolutionary perspectives, they elucidate how adaptations, selective pressures, and environmental factors influence variability, persistence, and geographic distribution of populations, thereby providing insight into both microevolutionary processes and conservation challenges.

People

Alessia Cariani

Associate Professor

keywords: marine fishes, genome scan approaches, next generation sequencing, population structure

Roberto Cazzolla Gatti

Associate Professor

keywords: One Health, ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, biological conservation, global environmental protection,

Fabrizio Ghiselli

Associate Professor

keywords: Genome Evolution, Comparative Genomics, Biodiversity Genomics, Molecular Evolution, Mito-Nuclear Coevolution,

Andrea Luchetti

Associate Professor

keywords: phylogenentics, genome evolution, animal evolution, speciation and divergence, biodiversity genomics

Mirko Martini

PhD Student

Teaching tutor

keywords: Longevity, Comparative Genomics, Genome Architecture, Molecular Evolution, Mito-Nuclear Coevolution

Pietro Milanesi

Junior assistant professor (fixed-term)

Liliana Milani

Associate Professor

keywords: Germline Development, Mitochondrial inheritance, Evolution

Marco Musiani

Full Professor

keywords: zoology, landscape ecology, molecular ecology, and wildlife conservation

Marco Passamonti

Associate Professor

keywords: Molecular Phylogenetics, RNA interference, Bivalvia, Mitochondrial DNA, Doubly Uniparental Inheritance (DUI)

Federico Plazzi

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

keywords: Evolution, Small noncoding RNAs, Phylogeny, Taxonomy, Molecular Biology, High-Throughput Sequencing, Mitogenomics,

Fausto Tinti

Full Professor

keywords: marine zoology, evolutionary biology, historical ecology, zooarchaeogenetics, marine biodiversity and ecosystem