Together with Prof. Dr. Leon Blaustein (University of Haifa, Israel), Prof. Dr. Alan Templeton (University of Saint Louis, USA/ University of Haifa, Israel) and Dr. Sebastian Steinfartz (University of Braunschweig, Germany) we have received a joint German-Israeli Partnership Grant to support studies of parallel ecological adaptation of amphibian larvae. Unlike any other vertebrate group, amphibian species can show a fascinating breadth of habitat-specific adaptations to aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Although we have much data on the consequences of habitat adaptation at the phenotypic and population structure levels, we are currently missing deeper insights into the genetic architecture of habitat-dependent adaptation. The research teams of this project study parallel ecological adaptation to larval reproductive habitats in two distinct species of fire salamanders – Salamandra salamandra in Germany and Salamandra infraimmaculata in Israel. We use species-specific microarrays to analyze gene expression patterns under fully natural conditions and in experimental setups.
