Research interests

Climate change and thermal adaptation
Constraints to adaptive evolution
Population size and genetic drift
Macroevolution
Conservation biology

Currently, two sets of questions attract most of our research efforts. The first is: Why do most species have a geographically well-restricted distributions? For the many cases where climate seems to restrict distributions, what are the constraints on the evolution of the climate niche? What is the genetic architecture of traits associated with coping with thermal stress? The second set of questions is: How important is small population size and mutational load in setting range limits? And what are the ecological consequences of mutational load? We study these questions in three systems: in Arabidopsis lyrata, on plant material from its entire distribution in North America, in the subarctic sister-species Arabidopsis arenicola, and in more than 100 Brassicaceae species occurring in Switzerland.

Prof. Dr. Yvonne Willi

Profiles & Affiliations

Department of Environmental Sciences

Faculty of Science > Department of Environmental Sciences > Forschung > Integrative Biologie > Plant Ecology and Evolution (Willi) | Professorship / Head of Research Group

Faculty of Science >
Department of Environmental Sciences >
Forschung >
Integrative Biologie >
Plant Ecology and Evolution (Willi) | Professorship / Head of Research Group