Dr Adriana Alzate Vallejo

My research focus on understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes responsible for the current biodiversity patterns. I have worked on a range of taxonomic groups (arthropods, plants, reef fish) to understand how dispersal, and dispersal-related traits have influenced species’ distribution, adaptation and range size. I have used several approaches in my research to explore this, such as experimental evolution, model simulations and macroecological approaches. Currently, I am interested in the role of dispersal on both macroecological and macroevolutionary patterns for several groups, including (woody) angiosperms, for which I have been assembling dispersal trait data.

• Oct 2020-  Post-doctoral Researcher. Synthesis Centre for Biodiversity Sciences (sDiv). German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany.
• Oct 2018-Sep 2020 Technical assistant, Evolution and Adaptation Group, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany.
• 2013-2018 PhD (double degree) at the University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands and Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. PhD thesis "From local adaptation to range sizes: ecological and evolutionary consequences of dispersal". Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Rampal S. Etienne and Prof. Dr. Dries Bonte.
• 2009-2011 Master in Ecology and Evolution, Top master program in Evolutionary Biology, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
• 1999-2005 Bachelor in Biology with emphasis in Ecology at the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia

Alzate, A., Onstein, R., Etienne, R. S. & Bonte, D. 2020. The role of preadaptation, propagule pressure and competition in the colonization of new habitats. Oikos. DOI: 10.1111/oik.06871

Alzate, A., Etienne, R. S. & Bonte, D. 2019. Experimental island biogeography demonstrates the importance of island size and dispersal for the adaptation to novel habitats. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 28(2):238-247. DOI: 10.1111/geb.12846

Alzate, A., Janzen, T., Bonte, D., Rosindell, J. & Etienne, R. S. 2019. A simple spatially explicit neutral model explains range size distributions of reef fishes. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 28(7):875-890. DOI: 10.1111/geb.12899

Alzate, A., van der Plas, F., Zapata, F.A., Bonte, D., & Etienne, R. S. 2019. Incomplete datasets obscure correlations between traits related to dispersal and geographic range size of reef fishes in the Tropical Eastern Pacific. Ecology and Evolution. 9(4):1567-1577. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4734

Alzate, A., Bisschop, K., Etienne, R. S. & Bonte, D. 2017. Interspecific competition counteracts negative effects of dispersal on adaptation of an arthropod herbivore to a new host. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 30(11):1966-1977. DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13123

Janzen, T., Alzate, A., Muschick, M., Maan, M. E., van der Plas, F. & Etienne, R. S. 2017. Community assembly in Lake Tanganyika cichlid fish: quantifying the contribution of both niche-based and neutral processes. Ecology and Evolution. 7(4): 1057-1067. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2689

Kölzsch, A., Alzate, A., Bartumeus, F., de Jager, M., Weerman, E., Hengeveld, G.M., Naguib, M., Nolet, B.A. & van de Koppel, J. 2015. Experimental evidence for inherent Lévy search behaviour in foranging animals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 282(1807): 20150424. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0424

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