Introduction
The Cavanilles Institute is devoted to the study of biodiversity and evolutionary biology using an integrative and multidisciplinary approach. Established in 1998 by the University of Valencia, the Institute currently accommodates close to 50 staff researchers, all of them professors from the Biology and Pharmacy schools, together with a similar number of graduate and post-graduate students. The Institute also trains students at a variety of levels, from short-term visitors to PhD students, and has its own graduate program in biodiversity and evolutionary biology. The Institute carries out its activities in facilities located at two main sites: the Research Institutes' Building of the Paterna campus, next to the Burjassot campus of the University of Valencia, and the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia, which will soon commemorate the 200 th anniversary of its founding. Both sites offer state-of-the-art facilities for research and teaching. The Institute's research members are organized into the following research units: Evolutionary Genetics, Limnology, Entomology, Evolutionary Ecology, Conservation Biology, Marine Zoology, Paleontology, Vertebrate Ecology, Bacteriology, Ethology, Plant Diversity/Ecophysiology, Cnidarians, and Comparative Neurobiology.
One of the main strengths of the Institute is its ability to tackle just about any question relating to biodiversity from multiple perspectives, studying from morphology to animal behaviour, from molecular genetic variation to quantitative variation, and integrating experts in complementary fields such as molecular biology, genetics, population biology, taxonomy, ecology, neurobiology or ethology. To accomplish its objectives the Institute uses, in addition to its own facilities, those provided by the Experimental Research Support Service of the University of Valencia, particularly the DNA and protein sequencing, bioinformatics and electron microscopy laboratorires.
The following are some of the ongoing research projects in which the Institute's researchers are currently involved: molecular systematics, evolution of viruses, population genetics applied to conservation, coevolution, speciation, evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics, molecular epidemiology, evolution of sex and dose compensation, limnology, wetland ecology, marine acuiculture, pest control, biology and systematics of aphids and their parasitoids, systematics and biogeography of lepidopterans, community ecology, vegetation cartography, plant systematics, taxonomy and conservation, marine mammalogy, marine parasitology, population biology and evolutionary ecology of rotifers, intra and inter-specific competition, paleobiology of marine molluscs, taphonomy, Triassic paleobiology, lizard behaviour and communication, ecophysiology, lichens as bioindicators, resource allocation in birds, systematics and evolution of hydrozoans, and basic and clinical neurobiology.