Dr Tanya Pennell
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
T.Pennell@exeter.ac.uk
Daphne du Maurier 3052
Daphne du Maurier Building, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK
Overview
I am embarking on an exciting new research project with Prof. Jeremy Field, combining my long-term interest in intralocus sexual conflict with a similar conflict that is thought to exist between social insect castes. After completing my undergraduate degree here on the Cornwall campus, I moved to the University of Sussex to do my PhD, but it is great to be back here with a different focus.
Broad research specialisms:
- Sexual conflict (intralocus and interlocus)
- Drosophila
- Quantitative genetics
- Social insects
- Caste conflict
- Evolution of fitness and behavioural traits
Qualifications
2012-2016: PhD (Evolutionary Dynamics of Intralocus Sexual Conflict)
2008-2011: BSc (Hons) Conservation Biology and Ecology
Research group links
Research
Research interests
I am interested in what influences adaptive evolution within populations, why genetic variation exists for traits, and how this affects biological processes. I seem to have a penchant for insects, having worked with field crickets, fruit flies, paper wasps and now sweat bees. My previous research was on intralocus sexual conflict, and I am currently exploring a similar conflict that occurs between social insect castes, that are the same sex. Like the sexes, they have different roles but share a genome, potentially sparking a conflict over gene expression. The focus of my efforts is the small, ground-nesting social sweat bee, Lasioglossum malachurum.
Research projects
- Caste Antagonism in Social Insects
Grants/funding
- ERC funded