EvoLunch Seminar: Karen Bisschop (KU Leuven)

Understanding when and how species adapt to changing environments requires integrating evolutionary history, ecological context, and organismal interactions. I synthesize work across experimental evolution, spatial ecology, and host-microbiome dynamics to show how the strength of selection and eco‑evolutionary feedbacks shape adaptive trajectories. For example, replicated evolution experiments in Caenorhabditis elegans reveal when fitness evolution is repeatable and when chance events dominate, offering conditions under which evolutionary forecasting becomes feasible. Additionally, studies of spatially structured populations of the two‑spotted spider mite illustrate how dispersal, competition, and community feedback can redirect selection, decoupling short‑term performance from long‑term outcomes. In parallel, microbiomes emerge as fast and flexible contributors to adaptation. Work in freshwater model taxa such as Daphnia magna shows how host-microbiota matching, cyanobacterial stress, and hypoxia reshape phenotypes and fitness, altering selective pressures without requiring changes in host genotype. In this talk, I will show how these perspectives reveal why adaptation can be rapid yet variable, and why predicting evolutionary responses to environmental change requires integrating genetics, ecological context, and the adaptive potential of microbiomes.