The seminar is sponsored by NYU-ECNU Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU Shanghai.
Abstract:
Dispersal, whether in the form of a dandelion seed drifting on the breeze, or a salmon migrating upstream to breed in a non-natal stream, transports genes between locations. In turn, local adaptation can modify the gene frequencies at those locations. For those reasons, both dispersal and local adaptation are major drivers of population genetic structure; however, in general, their respective roles are not independent and the two may often be at odds with one another evolutionary, each one exhibiting negative feedback on the evolution of the other.
In this talk, the speaker will present a simple model for the joint evolution of dispersal and local adaptation in a random environment. In particular, the speaker will show that, depending on the level of environmental heterogeneity, two very distinct regimes can occur: evolution either leads to a monomorphic population of highly dispersing generalists or a rarely dispersing, locally adapted, polymorphic population.
This is joint work with S. Levin, A. Berdahl and C. Torney.
Biography:
Emmanuel Schertzer is a Visiting Professor at NYU Shanghai and Assistant Professor at Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI. He is mainly interested in probability theory applied to ecology and evolution.