dr. A (Adriana) Alzate Vallejo

I am interested in macroecology, evolutionary ecology and marine biology. My research focuses on understanding the (macro)ecological and (macro)evolutionary processes responsible for the current biodiversity patterns.

I completed my bachelor's in Colombia at the Universidad del Valle,  where I worked on reef fish community assembly of coral and rocky reefs. I also worked on several projects related to coral reef community ecology and participated in several research expeditions and biodiversity monitoring. In 2009 (together with other colleges), we created ECOMARES, an NGO for the research and conservation of marine biodiversity (Ecomares) in Colombia. Shortly after, I was awarded a talent grant to pursue the ‘Top’ Master's Program in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Groningen. In 2018 I completed my PhD at the University of Groningen and Ghent University (double degree). I studied the evolutionary and macro-ecological consequences of dispersal using a wide variety of approaches. I used experimental evolution, with spider mites as a model system, to understand how dispersal affects adaptation to novel habitats. I also used modelling and macroecological approaches to study how dispersal influences reef fish distribution patterns. In 2018 I joined the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig. During this time I studied the (macro)eco-evolutionary drivers of species' geographical distributions.

In October 2022 I joined the Aquaculture & Fisheries group as a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow. My research will focus on understanding the combined effects of colonization, extinction and adaptation on the origin and maintenance of fish biodiversity in a unique island-like marine marine lakes in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.