Stay of Daniel Liesner

Daniel Liesner is currently visiting the station for a research stay of six weeks in collaboration with Myriam Valero's Department of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Algae.

Daniel is a postdoctoral fellow in Susana Coelho's Department of Algal Development and Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen, Germany, where he is investigating the control of the haplodiplontic life cycle of kelps using haploid gametophytes of the warm-temperate kelp Laminaria pallida.

Some individuals have been observed to differ from the norm of separate male and female individuals, e.g. genetically male gametophytes which are hermaphroditic or androgenetic (i.e., producing sporophytes without fertilization).

During his stay, Daniel is conducting an analysis of the genetic diversity and mating system of two natural populations of L. pallida using microsatellite genotyping to correlate these data to the occurrence of unusual sexual phenotypes in the wild. Based on these data, he wants to infer whether variation in sexual systems is a mechanism of reproductive assurance, ensuring initiation of the next generation in the absence of a suitable partner, or a maladaptation which may reduce the fitness of marginal and potentially genetically depleted populations.