University of Groningen Infection, immunity and island-life Tieleman, Bernadine; Matson, Kevin; Vergouwen, S.; Horrocks, Nicholas Published in: Annual Report CEES 2010 IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2010 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Tieleman, B., Matson, K., Vergouwen, S., & Horrocks, N. (2010). Infection, immunity and island-life. In Annual Report CEES 2010 (pp. 34-37). University of Groningen, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies. 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Download date: 06-10-2021 CEES annual report 2010 Coordinator: Emma Plender-Hartman Photos cover: Kim Meijer Graphics: Dick Visser (in part) Lay-out: Dick Visser Printed by: Van Denderen BV Published by: Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies (CEES) University of Groningen Contents CEES Highlights in 2010 5 Dissertations granted by CEES in 2010 9 CEES PhD Students in 2010 10 PhD projects – theses in preparation 16 Animal Ecology Composition of the group 19 Introduction 21 Overview of academic results 22 Publications 48 Community and Conservation Ecology Composition of the group 55 Introduction 57 Overview of academic results 58 Publications 72 Ecophysiology of plants Composition of the group 77 Introduction 78 Overview of academic results 79 Editoral activities 100 Publications 102 Evolutionary Genetics Composition of the group 105 Introduction 106 Overview of academic results 108 Publications 122 Marine Benthic Ecology and Evolution Composition of the group 125 Overview of academic results 126 Publications 146 Microbial Ecology Composition of the group 149 Introduction 150 Overview of academic results 151 Publications 163 Theoretical Biology Composition of the group 167 Introduction 168 Overview of academic results 170 Publications 197 Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies (CEES) Address: Centre for Life Sciences PO Box 11103 9700 CC Groningen The Netherlands tel. +31 (0)50 363 8357 Fax +31 (0)50 363 2295 Email: [email protected] http://www.rug.nl/cees Board: Prof. dr. H. Olff, Director Prof. dr. J.L. Olsen, Chairman Prof. dr. J.T.M. Elzenga Prof. dr. T. Piersma Members: Tel. numbers: Bakker, Prof.dr. J.P. 3632221 Beukeboom, Prof.dr. L.W. 3638448 Bijlsma, Prof.dr. R. 3632117 Dietz, Dr. M.W. 3632235 Elsas, Prof.dr.ir. J.D. van 3632151 Elzenga, Prof.dr. J.T.M. 3632307 Eriksson, Dr. B.D.H.K. 3632098 Falcao Salles, Dr. J. 3632161 Heip, Prof.dr. C.H.R. 0113-577300 Hemelrijk, Prof.dr. C.K. 3638084 Herndl, Prof.dr. G.J. 0222-369507 Kok, Dr. L.J. de 3632277 Komdeur, Prof.dr. J. 3632056 Olff, Prof.dr. H. 3632214 Olsen, Prof.dr. J.L. 3632260 Pen, Prof.dr. I.R. 3632290 Piersma, Prof.dr. T. 0222-369485 / 3632037 Schilthuizen, Prof.dr. M. 3632092 Smit, Dr.ir. C. 3638833 Stam, Prof.dr. W.T. 3632252 Tieleman, Prof.dr. B.I. 3638096 Tinbergen, Prof.dr. J. 3632373 Weissing, Prof.dr. F.J. 3632131 Wertheim, Dr. B. 3639039 Zande, Dr. L.P.W.G.M. van de 3632126 Highlights Out of the old and into the new In December 2010 CEES researchers said farewell to the Biological Centre in Haren. After some 40 years the old building was outdated and a renovation was not considered feasible due to asbestos and a 1960s building design that was definitely not eco-friendly. We have fond memo- ries of the lovely wooded location next to the Hortus but times have changed. Our new quar- ters in the hypermodern Centre for Life Sciences is something to behold. Located in the Zernike complex on the north side of the city, this signature building combines state-of-the-art labora- tory facilities and an eco-friendly power plant with a light and inviting ambience. Irene Tieleman wins VIDI grant Animal Ecology Group member Irene Tieleman won a VIDI grant on ‘The impact of environ- ment on avian immunity: ecology and evolution of the match between microbial communities and antimicrobial defenses’ The central question addressed in the proposed new work is: ‘How do animals adjust their immune system - central to protection against pathogens and diseases – to environmental change?’ It is widely assumed that animals should match their immune sys- tem to the threats they face, because immune function is costly. But, little is known about these threats. How do pathogen diversity and abundance differ among environments and seasons? Which pathogens are most important? This project aims to address these questions, crucial to place immune defenses in an ecological and evolutionary context. We will exploit an elegantly simple and widespread avian model, the ‘egg-nest’ dyad, to study the association between antimicrobial defenses of eggs and microbial communities in their environment. This first attempt to map microbial and pathogen landscapes and concurrent avian responses, opens up important new avenues to understand selection pressures on vertebrate immune function, individual traits related to disease resistance, and their relationships with distributions and numbers of animals in a changing world. A boost for the marine biology cluster Prof. Dr Per Palsbøll formally joined the CEES institute in the Spring of 2010. He will lead the new basiseenheid Marine Evolution and Conservation (MarECon). Per’s research is focused on long and short-term processes that structure marine mammal populations, such as environ- mental and geological changes, migratory behavior and community effects. His research also aims to develop novel analytical approaches to infer migration rates and abundance of whales from genetic assessment of extended-kinship. His group is also involved in several genome sequencing projects of selected marine mammal species. Important fields of application of this work are evolutionary ecology and the conservation and management of marine mammal populations. Per earned his PhD in evolutionary genetics from the University of Copenhagen (1993). Following post-docs in the US and UK, he was hired as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California- Berkeley in 2001 and tenured in 2006. Wishing to return to Europe, he was hired as Full Professor in the Department of Genetics, Stockholm University in 2007 before accepting the position here in Groningen. At present he is on a year-long sabbatical at Harvard and will start in September 2011. A top year for Evolutionary Genetics 2010 was an absolute top year for Evolutionary Genetics. It all started in January with seven publications within one month. One of these was the official publication of the Nasonia Genome Project in Science (Werren et al. 2010). During the international Drosophila conference in Washington in 2004 the idea was raised to sequence the complete genome of our model organism, the parasitic wasp Nasonia. As a follow up we wrote the required White Paper (official proposal) with American colleagues at a meeting in Groningen. After approval by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston performed the actual sequencing work. An international consor- tium of scientists subsequently annotated the genome which resulted in the publication in Science in January 2010. Simultaneously with this publication two special editions appeared on Nasonia research, one in Heredity and one in Insect Molecular Biology. Our group participated in four pub- lications in these special issues. 6 HIGHLIGHTS Sex determination in Science and success with a TOP-subsidy In a publication in Science and based on her PhD work under supervision of Louis van de Zande, Eveline Verhulst describes the sex determination mechanism of Nasonia. This entailed the elucidation of a completely new mecha- nism of sex determination and meant the solution of a long-standing open question since the middle of the last century. As a follow-up we were invited to write a review on insect sex determination in Current Opinion in Genetics & Development. Later in the year Leo Beukeboom received a TOP grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to continue this research. Group members contributed to a popular Cahier Biowetenschappen and Maatschappij . Control of plant mineral nutrition A FP7 Marie Curie Training Network grant "Biochemical and Genetic Dissection of Control of Plant Mineral Nutrition (BIONUT- ITN)" was awarded to an international collaboration initiated by Luit de Kok (Ecophysiology of Plants). The grant is aimed at pro- viding state-of-the-art training for young researchers in the high- ly strategic field of plant nutrition through an international program of research, training and transfer of knowledge. The overall goal of the network is increasing the understanding of genetic control of nutrient use efficiency of plants and thus addressing global food security. The grant, with an EU contribu- tion of 2.42 million euros, covers the appointment of 8 PhD students and 2 post-docs.