PHENOTYPICVAR · INDIVIDUAL HETEROGENEITY AND THE EVOLUTION OF PHENOTYPIC VARIABILITY

This project aims to extend our understanding of the maintenance and evolution of phenotypic variability, in particular variability in life history parameters. Among individual contributions to population dynamics will be assessed, by investigating variability in age-specific mortality and reproduction. Experiments on bacteria will be used to provide high-quality individual level data that will be analyzed using mathematical models and simulations. The main objective is to explain observed, and to predict future, ecological and evolutionary dynamics, variability and equilibrium in phenotypic distributions. The successful completion of our aims will add to the development and implementation of a new framework for the study of dynamics in variability and life history evolution in age-structured populations. This project is in biodemography and at the interface of demography, population biology, evolution, ecology and microbiology.