Evolutionary Ecology - EE
Adaptation to Complex Environments

Erik van Bergen

Post-Doc Researcher

I received a M.Sc. from Leiden University (NL) and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (UK). After postdoctoral fellowships at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (PT) and the University of Helsinki (FI), I now work at the University of Zurich (CH).

​My research focuses on the eco-evolutionary processes underlying adaptation of herbivorous insects to novel host plants. Specifically, I use natural insect populations to assess the role of complex environmental variation in the evolution of specialization and ecological diversification.

Besides my work on host specialization in herbivorous insects, my research has also contributed to the understanding of life-history evolution, developmental plasticity, inbreeding depression, and the concept of developmental bias.