Climate change causes large variation in environmental conditions within and between generations of natural populations. Adaptation to these environments is typically through evolutionary changes or adaptive plastic responses. We are interested in whether, at what speed, and how, populations can adapt evolutionary and/or through physiological or morphological plastic changes to environments that are changing rapidly. We use both plants and animals in these studies and are doing experiments both under controlled conditions and under natural conditions in the field. In studies focusing on stress adaptation we often use model species, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, Drosophila melanogaster or Musca domestica benefitting from their high fertility, short generation time and sequenced genomes.

It enables us to e.g. perform selection experiments where we, within a short time frame, can select for many generations, and to use omics techniques to examine the genetic basis of adaptation to stressful environmental conditions. In studies of plant acclimation to changing environments we are using whole-plant, physiological, metabolic and molecular approaches to elucidate responses at various levels and to gain insights into metabolic and transcriptional regulation of physiological and phenological responses.

One focus point is adaptation to fast climate changes in Arctic regions such as south Greenland where we study how insects cope with variable and rapidly changing temperatures.