Giacomo Zilio
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Research

The majority of my work is laboratory-based. I combine experimental evolution with theory-driven data analysis. My research integrates three principal axis: the joint evolution of host and parasite traits, the interplay between epidemiology and evolutionary changes, and the effect of multiple environmental stressors  on adaptation.

Host-parasite experimental evolution 

​I am investigating host-parasite evolution during spatial dynamics and epidemic outbreaks in simplified laboratory settings using experimental microcosm landscapes with an aquatic model system (the ciliate Paramecium caudatum and its bacterial parasite Holospora undulata). I am especially interested in how dispersal evolution affect critical interaction traits such as virulence and resistance, and how the evolution of these traits feedback on dispersal.
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Zilio, G.*, Nørgaard, L.S.*, Gougat-Barbera, C., Hall, M.D., Fronhofer, E.A., and Kaltz, O. (2023). Travelling with a parasite: the evolution of resistance and dispersal syndrome during experimental range expansion.
​Proc B; doi: doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1966 

*: equal contributions​
​
​​Nørgaard, L.S.*, Zilio, G.*, Saade, C., Gougat-Barbera, C., Hall, M.D., Fronhofer, E.A., and Kaltz, O. (2021). An evolutionary trade-off between parasite virulence and dispersal at experimental invasion fronts. Ecology Letters; doi: 10.1111/ele.13692
​ *: equal contributions

Zilio, G., Nørgaard, L.S., Petrucci, G., Zeballos, N., Gougat-Barbera, C., Fronhofer, E.A., and Kaltz, O. (2021). Parasitism and host dispersal plasticity in an aquatic model system. Journal of Evolutionary Biology; doi: 10.1111/jeb.13893

​Epidemic waves and range expansions

How do parasites evolve during spatial dynamics? 
​How 
much does parasite evolution contribute to fuel epidemics ?
​
Experimental evolution and microcosm landscapes can be used to mimic epidemic waves and range expansions in the laboratory and test fundamental predictions. Although being simplified abstractions of the real world, such experiments provide baseline information for applied issues of biocontrol or the monitoring of emerging diseases. 
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Zilio, G., Deshpande, J.N., Duncan, A.B., Fronhofer, E.A., Kaltz, O. (2024). Dispersal evolution and eco-evolutionary dynamics in antagonistic species interactions.  Trends in Ecology and Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2024.03.006

Zilio, G., Krenek S., Gougat-Barbera, C., Fronhofer, E.A., and Kaltz, O. (2023). Predicting evolution in experimental range expansions of an aquatic model system. Evolution Letters; ​https://doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qrad010
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Biotic and abiotic stressors

Ecological and environmental conditions can set the stage for the evolution of parasite transmission modes. How do resource availability and other biotic/abiotic stressors may influence the relative importance of vertical and horizontal transmission and affect parasite evolution?
Zilio, G., Kaltz, O., and Koella, J.C. (2022). Resource availability for the mosquito Aedes aegypti affects the transmission mode evolution of a microsporidian parasite. ​Evolutionary Ecology; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-022-10184-7

​Zilio, G. and Koella, J.C. (2020). Sequential co-infections drive parasite competition and the outcome of infection.
​Journal of Animal Ecology. 
doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13302

​The "ComplexAdapt - ExpEvolOcc" project

More generally, how does environmental complexity
​(i.e. multiple stressors) affect adaptation?
A meta-experimental evolution approach.
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Current collaborators

Luis-Miguel Chevin
[email protected] 

Guillaume Martin
[email protected]

Emanuel A. Fronhofer
[email protected]

Alison B. Duncan
​[email protected]

Oliver Kaltz
​[email protected]

‪François Massol
[email protected]

Elvire Bestion
[email protected]

Julien Cote
[email protected]

Sascha Krenek
[email protected]

Lydia J. Bright
[email protected]

​Matthew D. Hall
[email protected]

Timothy H. Parker
[email protected]

Hannah Fraser
[email protected]

Shinichi Nakagawa​​
[email protected]​
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  • Home
  • Research
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