Micro-evolutionary adaptation to one stressor modifies the ability of organisms to cope with other stressors: working towards a literature synthesis

In a rapidly changing, human-dominated world, populations of organisms in natural systems are increasingly exposed to a wide range of different stressors related to e.g., climate change, pollution, eutrophication and salinization. Evidence for the ability of organisms to genetically adapt to such stressor regimes is accumulating although not much is known yet about how the adaptation of an organism to one stressor may affects its tolerance to other stressors. General insight into the latter question is, nevertheless, essential if we want to understand and predict how biodiversity will respond to the stressor regimes of the future.

The aim of the proposed internship is to provide an as complete as possible literature overview of what is known about this topic for metazoans. You will search, read, categorize, analyze and interpret the studies currently available about this topic across organism groups and stressor types, with the aim to generalize the major trends and identify current knowledge gaps. You will also engage in trying to explore the possibilities for a meta-analysis.

This internship is open for master students at universities only. The internship can be taken up at any time of the year and does not involve any practical laboratory or field work.

Supervisor: Steven Declerck (s.declerck@nioo.knaw.nl)