Dr. Africa Gómez
Lecturer in Ecology
Departament de Microbiologia i Ecologia,
Universitat de València,
E-46100 Burjassot,
València
Spain
 
Tel: +34 96 386 46 15
FAX: +34 96 398 30 99
e-mail: africa.gomez@uv.es
www: http://www.uv.es/~africa/

 Photo

Getting ready for sampling in Gallocanta lake (photo and scanning courtesy of Elizabeth Ortega and Samuel Carda).

 

 

 

I am currently junior lecturer in Ecology, appointed December 1996 in the Area de Ecologia of the Universitat de València (Spain). I am member of the recently created Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva

I got my Ph.D. in the Universitat de València (1996) with the thesis 'Ecological Genetics and mate recognition systems in sympatric rotifer populations' under the supervision of Prof. Manuel Serra. Thesis summary

I did my Post-Doc during 1997 and 1998 in the Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory in the University of Hull with Prof. Gary R. Carvalho on the isolation and utilisation of microsatellites to understand rotifer population structure and resting egg banks.

 

Male Brachionus plicatilis (left) contacting a young female

Research Interests

My interest centres on the interplay between the population and the species level, and concentrates on the application of molecular genetic tools to questions in Population Ecology and Evolution, using rotifers as model organisms. I focus especially the evolution and ecological significance of population differentiation and speciation; the evolutionary ecology of clonal organisms, and the evolution of mating behaviour barriers between species.

Female Brachionus plicatilis L1-group

carrying a resting egg

 

 

Brachionus rotundiformis SS resting egg

One primary research topic includes the diversification of gene pools through the development of mating behaviour barriers, in particular, the processes affecting the divergence in mating behaviour signals between conspecific populations, and its importance in population divergence and speciation. I am involved in the unravelling of the phylogeny of a rotifer species complex using ITS1 and COI sequence information. This will result in a strong base to investigate the development of behavioural reproductive barriers between subpopulations, and how they evolve into species-specific mating behaviour, using behavioural and fertilisation mating tests.

In addition, I am interested in the effects of life history patterns on population genetic structure and the adaptive divergence and habitat specialisation of populations, for which rotifers are excellent research models, being cyclical parthenogens.

We have little knowledge about strategies of sex investment in cyclical parthenogens and how this relates to habitat features such as predictability or permanence and the impact it has on population genetic structure. The comparative approach, as some studies have been done using cladocerans and aphids, the other two important groups of cyclical parthenogens, would be quite interesting in this respect.

Some other subjects I am interested in include:

  • The evolution and function of resting egg banks and its impact on population structure; the effect of climate change on the population structure of species with resting egg banks; the molecular analysis of past populations using PCR-based recovery of DNA from resting eggs.
  • The patterns and processes affecting the evolution and diversification of sibling species complexes (cryptic speciation).
  • The phylogeographic patterns in organisms with passive dispersal and different life histories in patchy environments (see Current projects).

 

 

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Last updated 09/01/00