Research Interests

Photos: Andriopoulos, Radea

Research on Biodiversity, Biogeography and Evolution

We are fascinated by the diversity of various animal groups, and we are in a continuous struggle to set their divergence in a temporal and spatial frame. We are in favour of a multifaceted approach of biodiversity, therefore in our studies we try to assess the diversity of the studied taxon in the molecular, morphological and ecological level. With this in mind we usually combine molecular phylogeny, morphometrics, population genetics and ecology into a single holistic approach of the diversity. Most recently, we have included the study of physiological responses as another facet of the diversity exhibited in nature. Aiming at identifying the adaptation mechanism behind the inferred pattern, physiological responses can provide significant insights. Up to now we have been researching in the ecology, phylogeography, radiation, systematics and ecophysiology of land-snails, lizards, scorpions, spiders, isopods, myriapods and cave crickets. The geographical area that we have been conducting diversity studies has been the eastern Mediterranean.

Currently we are also working on the diversity and biogeography of remote oceanic Archipelagos such as the Azores. In the oceanic islands besides inferring the phylogeographic patterns of the studied taxa, we are also interested in identifying the effect that the fragmentation of the natural habitats poses on the genetic constituent and adaptability of the highly specialized native species that lack the ability to switch to a different habitat.

The last years we have moved into the genomics level. We are implementing next generation sequencing techniques such as ddRAD and transcriptomics. The questions targeted with the use of high throughput sequencing data, pertain the fields of molecular phylogenomics and ecology.

Research on threatened vertebrate, invertebrate taxa and plants

Starting from 2012 we focused our attention on the threatened species of our territory. Greece hosts a large number of endemic insular and mainland animal and plant species, thus also maintains a large number of endangered species based on the IUCN criteria. We aim to comprehensively study all the threatened species of Greece starting from the endangered ones. Within this frame, we perform field surveys to verify the distibutional data of the species and obtain an accurate picture of the species' distributions. During these surveys, we record ecology of the species and the major threats they are currently faced with. Whenever demographic data allow, we also try to obtain insights into the genetic/genomic constituent of their populations and revise their taxonomic status. Combining these data with the species' ecology and anthropogenic effects might enable us to pinpoint the historical and ecological factors that have brought these species to the brink of extinction.

Research on vector-borne diseases and insect immunity

During the last years, we conducted research on the Anopheles mosquito. Pinpointing the immunity genes mostly relating to the defence of the mosquito towards the Plasmodium was one of our goals. To achieve this, advanced phylogenetic and population genetics methods were implemented on immunity genes sequence data generated from the Anopheles species complex that included the two most important human malaria vectors. Another issue of interest was the molecular identification of the Anopheles species that invaded Brazil in the 1930s and caused a severe malaria epidemic.