Biography
I completed my Bachelor of Science (Genetics) at the University of Queensland, Australia. There I studied adaptation and speciation in the wildflower Senecio lautus with Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos. An EMJMD scholarship allowed me to gain further experience in speciation genetics. I undertook a series of research projects with Carole Smadja (Université de Montpellier), Robin Hopkins (Harvard University) and Chris Jiggins, here in Cambridge. I continued my work with Chris as a PhD student thanks to the John Stanley Gardiner studentship (2020-2024). In 2024 I was elected as Tucker-Price Research Fellow in Zoology at Girton College.
Research
I am an evolutionary geneticist interested in rapid, anthropogenic evolution. I specialize in the study of agricultural pests and invasive species, which pose significant threats to food security and global biodiversity. This threat is exacerbated by the evolution of pesticide resistance. During my PhD in the Insect Evolution and Genomics Group here in Cambridge, I studied an invasive caterpillar in Brazil: the noctuid Helicoverpa armigera. This invasive species hybridized with a native pest species, Helicoverpa zea. I showed that hybridization resulted in the bi-directional exchange of resistance alleles between species, despite the maintenance of distinct species boundaries where they now co-occur. The exchange of genetic variants that had already been optimised through selection resulted in rapid adaptation in both species. Using genomic monitoring, I also traced the spread of a resistance gene from H. armigera into the North American population of H. zea.
My current work seeks to extend population genomic analysis from retrodiction (understanding recent evolutionary change) to predictive forecasting of the potential range of invasive species. I am developing this approach by studying the ongoing spread of Helicoverpa armigera into North America. I also use this system to study rapid adaptation and the evolution of reproductive isolation. I am interested in the evolution of invasive species and pesticide resistance more generally
Publications
North, H. L., Fu, Z., Metz, R., Stull, M. A., Johnson, C. D., Shirley, X., ... Jigins, C. & Sword, G. (2024). Rapid Adaptation and Interspecific Introgression in the North American Crop Pest Helicoverpa zea Molecular Biology and Evolution
Jin, M., North, H. L., Peng, Y., Liu, H., Pan, R., Zhou, Y., ... & Xiao, Y. (2023). Adaptive evolution to the natural and anthropogenic environment in a global invasive crop pest, the cotton bollworm. The Innovation.
North, H. L., McGaughran, A., & Jiggins, C. (2021). Insights into invasive species from whole‐genome resequencing. Molecular Ecology.
North, H. L., Caminade, P., Severac, D., Belkhir, K., & Smadja, C. M. (2020). The role of copy-number variation in the reinforcement of sexual isolation between the two European subspecies of the house mouse. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 375(1806), 20190540.
Valencia-Montoya, W. A., Elfekih, S., North, H. L., Meier, J. I., Warren, I. A., Tay, W. T., ... & Jiggins, C. D. (2020). Adaptive introgression across semipermeable species boundaries between local Helicoverpa zea and invasive Helicoverpa armigera moths. Molecular biology and evolution, 37(9), 2568-2583.
Amado, D., ... North, H. L., et al. (2025). The genetic architecture of resistance to flubendiamide insecticides in Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). PLOS ONE.
Ålund, M., ... North, H. L., et al. (2023). Anthropogenic Change and the Process of Speciation. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, a041455.
McGaughran, A., ... North, H.L., et al. (2024). Genomic tools in biological invasions: current state and future frontiers. Genome biology and evolution, 16(1), evad230.
Wilkinson, M.J., Roda, F., Walter, G.M., James, M.E., Nipper, R., Walsh, J., Allen, S.L., North, H.L., Beveridge, C.A. and Ortiz-Barrientos, D., 2021. Adaptive divergence in shoot gravitropism creates hybrid sterility in an Australian wildflower. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (47) e2004901118; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2004901118
James, M.E., Wilkinson, M.J., Bernal, D.M., Liu, H., North, H.L., Engelstädter, J. and Ortiz‐Barrientos, D., 2021. Phenotypic and genotypic parallel evolution in parapatric ecotypes of Senecio. Evolution.
Supervisions
I encourage enquiries from prospective postgraduate researchers and undergraduate researchers (Part II Biological Natural Sciences & Part III Systems Biology).
