Prof. Otto Seppälä ist Leiter der Arbeitsgruppe „Aquatic Evolutionary Ecology“ am Forschungsinstitut für Limnologie, Mondsee der Universität Innsbruck.
Abstract:
Predicting the evolution of phenotypic traits requires understanding how natural selection operates on them. Despite its importance in the fight against parasites, selection on host immune function has remained understudied. Theory predicts immune traits to be under stabilizing selection due to associated trade-offs with other fitness-related traits. Empirical studies, however, report mainly positive directional selection. This discrepancy could be caused by various ecological factors such as spatial and temporal variation in infection risk, factors affecting the range of phenotypic variation in immune traits, and condition dependence of immune defence that obscures trade-offs related to it. I present data from field and laboratory experiments that evaluate the role of these factors in determining the form and strength of natural selection on immune activity in a freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis.

After the seminar (ca. 16:00 h), everybody is welcome to join us for drinks and munchies in the „coffee corner on the second floor“.