Dr Diego Fontaneto

My research interests include speciation, macroecology and patterns of diversity, mostly using as a test case microscopic invertebrates such as rotifers. Speciation: the evolution of distinct species in animals has often been considered a property solely of sexually reproducing organisms. My work deals with differences and similarities in the speciation process between sexual and asexual organisms. Macroecology: patterns of diversity in microscopic organisms are hypothesised to differ from macroscopic ones, as small size, desiccation tolerance, and dispersal capability should allow micro-organisms to achieve global distributions. I test the predictions of this ubiquity hypothesis in microscopic animals using morphological and molecular taxonomy. Personal web site: http://www.cnr.it/people/diego.fontaneto

Online user: 1