Ecology and Conservation

Dr Tanya Pennell

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

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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

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Publications

Journal articles

Pennell TM, Sharma MD, Sutter A, Wilson DT, House CM, Hosken DJ (2024). The condition‐dependence of male genital size and shape. Ecology and Evolution, 14(3).
Pennell TM, Field J (2021). Split sex ratios and genetic relatedness in a primitively eusocial sweat bee. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 75(1). Abstract.
Ruzicka F, Hill MS, Pennell TM, Flis I, Ingleby FC, Mott R, Fowler K, Morrow EH, Reuter M (2019). Genome-wide sexually antagonistic variants reveal long-standing constraints on sexual dimorphism in fruit flies. PLoS Biology, 17(4). Abstract.
Field JP, Pennell TM, Holman L, Morrow EH (2018). Building a new research framework for social evolution: intralocus caste antagonism. Biological Reviews
Pennell TM, de Haas FJH, Morrow EH, van Doorn GS (2016). Contrasting effects of intralocus sexual conflict on sexually antagonistic coevolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(8). Abstract.
Gilks WP, Pennell TM, Flis I, Webster MT, Morrow EH (2016). Whole genome resequencing of a laboratory-adapted Drosophila melanogaster. F1000Research, 5
Gilks WP, Pennell TM, Flis I, Webster MT, Morrow EH (2016). Whole genome resequencing of a laboratory-adapted Drosophila melanogaster population sample. F1000Research, 5
Gilks WP, Pennell TM, Flis I, Webster MT, Morrow EH (2016). Whole genome resequencing of a laboratory-adapted Drosophila melanogaster population sample. F1000Research, 5, 2644-2644. Abstract.
Pennell TM, Morrow EH (2013). Two sexes, one genome: the evolutionary dynamics of intralocus sexual conflict. Ecology and Evolution, 3(6), 1819-1834. Abstract.

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