The relative contribution of selection, genetic drift, and mutation will affect the predictability of adaptive evolution. This is affected by several factors that may influence each other: the effective population size, the strength of selection and the initial allele frequency. The smaller the effective population size, the higher the importance of random genetic drift, which will decrease the predictability. The larger the selection strength, the more predictable the system's behaviour is. If the beneficial allele is already available at a high frequency in the population, the predictability of adaptive evolution increases.

This project is a collaboration of several research institutes in The Netherlands and Belgium in which we aim to turn evolutionary biology in a more predictive science using experimental evolution with Caenorhabditis elegans. 

Wortel et al., 2023 PDF; Bisschop, Blankers et al., 2022 PDF

Experimental evolution is research following the evolution of certain populations across generations. This is a great tool to unravel evolutionary processes, as the initial state and the novel conditions of the populations are known. Ecological and evolutionary dynamics can furthermore be monitored in time in multiple replicates.

Using Tetranychus urticae as model organism, I addressed several questions concerning both the spatial- and the community-context of ecological specialisation. Some findings are listed below.

• Interspecific competition may counteract the detrimental effect of high dispersal from an ancestral population towards a novel challenging environment (Alzate, Bisschop, et al., 2017 PDF).
• Unsuccessful ghost species can induce a long-term effect on the performance of other members in the community (Bisschop et al., 2020 PDF).
• A heterogeneous environment can facilitate adaptation to a harsh environment by providing an evolutionary stepping stone (Bisschop et al., 2019 PDF).
• Using a population dynamics model, I provided evidence that adaptation may either positively or negatively affect carrying capacity, depending on the ecological conditions leading to variation in adaptation (Bisschop et al., 2022 PDF) - Recognized by The American Naturalist Society as the runner-up for the Student Paper Award for 2023.

This work is part of a joint research project between the research group of Dries Bonte (Ghent University) and Rampal Etienne (University of Groningen), supported by the U4 Society University network.