​I'm interested in ecological and environmental factors leading to adaptation in the visual system of fish and how these help to explain the great diversity of eyes found in nature. My research combines molecular techniques, genomic approaches, ecological data and behavioral experiments to understand the adaptive value of vision in freshwater fishes inhabiting distinct photic environments. More recently, I've been also focusing on the consequences of such phenotypic differences in visual systems on life-history traits and their implications for population dynamics and trophic food webs. My research aims to provide an integrative view within the field of evolutionary and sensory ecology.

Switching Tracks to Stay on the Same Path:
Centrarchids, Opsins and Ecosystems
Turns out North America has its own native version of cichlids and they are just as amazing: Welcome to the Centrarchids World! So many questions it's difficult to know where to start...Let's see...How much intra- and inter-specific variation do we see in the visual systems of Centrarchids? Does this matter for their foraging performance? Do environmental factors such as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) influence phenotypes by altering visibility conditions in freshwater ecosystems? Does this matter for trophic food webs? How does DOC and fish planktivory impact aquatic habitats? And, most importantly, can we stain over one million liters of water in experimental ponds to find out? Turns out, YES WE CAN! Of course, this would not be possible without my incredible advisor's help (and a bit of his craziness too), and the great support from the Jones Lab, the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center and the Environmental Change Initiative. More news coming soon!!

Long-Lasting Relationship:
​The Adaptive Significance of Variation in the Visual System of Cichlid Fish
As part of my Master's thesis, I wanted to understand the impact of different visual sensitivities on the foraging performance of cichlid fish. To test this, we took advantage from locally adapted visual systems in distinct populations of the well-known Midas cichlid species complex in Nicaragua. To disentangle genetic from environmental effects, we raised fish in different light conditions and tested their ability to detect live Daphnia under different light setups. Thank to a collaboration with the Jordan Lab for Integrative Behavioural Ecology we were able to automatically track both fish and prey during the feeding trials. I will spend a lot of time recording fish while they catch a live prey so more news coming soon! 

Love at First Sight: Light, Water and Fish
Before starting my master's thesis, I was convinced that nothing was cooler than social insects. Well, once again, nature surprises you. In Summer 2020, I joined the Meyer Lab for Molecular Evolutionary Biology for a research internship a.k.a. Vertiefungskurs. Here, I discovered the amazing world of cichlids and their taxonomic diversity. Soon after starting a project under supervision of Dr. J. Torres-Dowdall, I felt in love with the visual system of cichlids and how this could be fine-tuned to environmental factors such as the underwater light conditions. For my first project, we characterised the photic conditions of several Crater and Great Lakes in Nicaragua and studied the spectral sensitivity of populations inhabiting them from the small radiation of Midas cichlids (Amphilophus cf citrinellus). We found strong associations between the variation in their visual system and their native photic habitats. Currently, we are addressing the genetic basis of the phenotypic variation observed among populations. So stay tuned!

Second Chapter: Social Insects - Honeybees (Apis mellifera)
After absolving a beekeeper course, I was sure that I wanted to work with honeybees. The chance came when I met Dr. M. Nouvian, group leader from the Social Neuroethology Lab, working on the interplay between alarm pheromone and aggressiveness in honeybees. My thesis focused on how age-dependent task allocation in honeybees influences their responsiveness towards alarm signals and/or willingness to sting. Following this, I also spend one summer using behavioural assays to address the dose-dependent response of honeybees of different age to the alarm pheromone. Overall, I spend a lot time staring at our observation hive, marking and testing bees and getting stung. I still find amazing that honeybee colonies are organised into complex societies without a centralised structure. Hope to see some of this work published soon!

My First Research Experience - Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens)
During my exchange year in Taiwan I had the opportunity to work on my own project for the first time. Here, I worked on Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) at the Insect-Interaction Lab of Prof. S. Y. Hwang. Together with my advisor Dr. A.C. Samayoa we addressed the effect of different diets on the survival and reproduction of adult flies. For this, I marked hundreds of sexed individuals and had to spend a lot of time counting eggs. In contrast with previous studies, we found that adult flies do highly benefit from a nutritious diet despite their short lifespan, which has important implications for the entomophagy industry.I had a great time in Taiwan and made some great friends over there.