In this paper published in Nature Communications, we show that many new cichlid fish species evolved Lake Mweru, all of which evolved from hybrid origin. We show that in the nearby Lake Bangweulu, there are no new cichlid species and no evidence for hybridisation. This paper shows that hybridisation can explain species richness differences. Hybridisation … More Our project on Lake Mweru cichlid fishes is published

St John’s College at University of Cambridge made a movie to explain the fellowship I currently hold. They featured me in it:

Our new paper on how old alleles, often derived from hybridization, importantly contribute to rapid speciation and adaptive radiation is out in Trends in Ecology and Evolution! I am shared first author with David A Marques and Ole Seehausen is last author. Thanks to David and Ole for pulling this manuscript through the good and … More Combinatorial view on speciation

In a study led by Sara Lipshutz, we investigated a hybrid zone of Jacana species in Panama. We found adaptive introgression of a female-competitive trait in these sex-role reverse species. Congratulations to Sara for this great piece of work!

Since October 2018, I am now in Cambridge. I have settled in well and am enjoying the scientifically excellent and friendly environment at the Department of Zoology. The group of Chris Jiggins is a lot of fun. I have started two research projects on the genomics of adaptation and speciation in Heliconius butterflies. One on … More Working on Heliconius butterflies

I am very happy to announce that on 1 October I will start a St John’s College research fellowship at University of Cambridge! I will work with Chris Jiggins on Heliconius butterflies and also develop my own study system.

My newest Nat Comm paper showing that the Lake Victoria region cichlids evolved from a hybrid swarm. … More Ancient hybridization fueled rapid cichlid adaptive radiations