Biography
since 2022 Group leader at the Tree of Life Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute
since 2022 Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Tree of Life Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute
2020 - 2025: Branco Weiss Fellow at the Zoology Department, University of Cambridge
2018 - 2022: Bateson Research Fellow (JRF) at St John's College, Cambridge, associated with the group of Chris Jiggins at the Zoology Department, University of Cambridge
2016 - 2018: Postdoc in the group of Aquatic Ecology and Evolution with Ole Seehausen, University of Bern and EAWAG, Switzerland
2012 - 2016: PhD in Ecology and Evolution with Ole Seehausen and Laurent Excoffier, University of Bern and EAWAG, Switzerland
2010 - 2012: Master of Science in Ecology and Evolution in the population genetics group with Gerald Heckel, University of Bern, Switzerland
Research
My main research focus is on speciation and evolutionary genomics. Why do some taxa rapidly generate new species, whereas others remain species-poor? I am particularly interested in the role of hybridisation (interbreeding) and chromosomal rearrangements in rapid speciation and adaptation. My study systems include Neotropical butterflies, peacock spiders and cichlid fishes.
Publications
Rueda N. (…) Meier J. I.*, Salazar C.* (*shared last authors) (2024) Genomic evidence reveals three sequential W-autosome fusions in Heliconius butterflies. PLoS Genetics. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011318
Walker J. M., van der Heijden E. S. M., Maulana A, Rueda-Muñoz N., Näsvall K, Salazar P. A., Meyer M., Meier J. I. (2024) Common misconceptions of speciation. Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society. DOI: 10.1093/evolinnean/kzae029
Meier J. I. et al. (16 authors) (2023) Cycles of fusion and fission enabled rapid parallel adaptive radiations in African cichlids. Science. 381, DOI: 10.1126/science.ade2833
Meier J. I., Salazar P. A., Kučka M., Davies R. W., Dréau A., Aldás I., Box Power O., Nadeau N. J., Bridle J. R., Rolian C., Barton N. H., McMillan W. O., Jiggins C. D., Chan Y. F. (2021) Haplotype tagging reveals parallel formation of hybrid races in two butterfly species. PNAS, 118: doi:e2015005118
Jamie G., Meier J. I. (2020) The persistence of polymorphisms across species radiations. Trends Ecol Evol, 35: 795-808
Meier J. I., Stelkens R. B., Joyce D. A., Mwaiko S., Phiri N., Schliewen U., Selz O. M., Wagner C. E., Katongo C., Seehausen O. (2019) The coincidence of ecological opportunity with hybridisation explains rapid adaptive radiation in Lake Mweru cichlids. Nature Commun. 20, 5391
Marques D. A.*, Meier J. I.*, Seehausen O. (2019) A combinatorial view on speciation and adaptive radiation (*shared first authors listed alphabetically). Trends Ecol Evol, 34:531-544
Meier J. I., Marques D. A., Mwaiko S., Wagner C. E., Excoffier L., Seehausen O. (2017) Ancient hybridization fuels rapid cichlid fish adaptive radiations. Nature Comm, 8: doi:10.1038/ncomms14363
Find the complete list of publications here: Joana Isabel Meier - Google Scholar
