From left to right: Prof. Matthew Symonds, Prof. Emily Burdfield-Steel, Dr. Chiara De Pasqual, Prof. Astrid Groot & Prof. Johanna Mappes
The whole EEI group congratulates our very own Chiara De Pasqual, who successfully defended her PhD on the 2nd of December. Her thesis “On the maintenance of intrapopulation genetic variation: the interplay between sexual selection, chemical communication, and fitness in the wood tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis)” was an amalgamation of 4,5 years of hard work and scientific brilliancy, and gathered praise from her opponent professor Matthew Symonds.
In her thesis, Chiara provided evidence for heterozygote advantage in the wood tiger moth – a phenomenon which has been rarely if ever observed outside the field of medicinal research. She found that heterozygote wood tiger moths have better reproductive output, which could help explain color polymorphism in the species.
The whole group got to enjoy the excellent defence in a grand setting in the Old Festival Hall at the University of Jyväskylä, and later honor and celebrate Chiara’s success at the karonkka.
Ecology & Evolution of Interactions 