Herpetology

The Amphibian Evolution Lab investigates various aspects of the evolution of modern amphibians using molecular techniques. Throughout the years, the focus of research has expanded from amphibian natural history to deep-time evolutionary relationships, historical biogeography, modern biodiversity patterns and macroevolutionary changes in morphology, physiology, defensive skin peptides, and sex pheromones. Most of our studies find their roots in ecological observations during fieldwork. What kind of chemical information exactly are male newts transmitting when continuously fanning their tail to females? How did amphibian species reach the summits of ancient isolated table mountains in South America? And how did several amphibian taxa independently evolve complex skin poisons with surprisingly similar bioactivities? Questions like these are investigated using integrative approaches, combining fieldwork and biological assays with transcriptomic, proteomic, genomic and phylogenetic analyses.

More information can be found on the website: www.amphibia.be