PhD in evolutionary ecology of genome size (Germany)

The goal of this project is to investigate the mechanisms and significance of genome size variation at short evolutionary timescales, such as variation among closely related species, among populations, and among individuals within a population. Our model system is the facultative asexual rotifer Brachionus plicatilis, a cryptic species complex consisting of at least 14 closely related species.
Within this complex we focus on a lineage that has undergone a 1.9-3.5 fold increase in genome size relative to its sister-species (e.g., http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/11/90/abstract). Within this lineage we also study a population that exhibits a remarkable 25% continuous variation in genome size.
For more details see: http://www.uibk.ac.at/limno/jobs/ and http://www.uibk.ac.at/limno/personnel/stelzer/