Pilakouta Lab
predicting responses to climate change
from molecules to populations and ecosystems
about the lab
Our research group, led by Dr Natalie Pilakouta, is based in the Centre for Biological Diversity at University of St Andrews. The overarching aim of our work is to improve our ability to predict population responses to human-induced environmental changes and, in particular, climate change. We are also interested in linking these population responses to the underlying molecular mechanisms and their effects on ecosystem-level processes.
Working towards this goal, our research integrates behavioural ecology, evolutionary biology, and ecophysiology, using a wide range of methods, such as experimental evolution, field-based studies, molecular biology techniques, and theoretical approaches. We work mainly on fish and insect study systems, but our work is question-driven rather than species-driven. We also use meta-analytic techniques to answer questions with a broad taxonomic scope. If you are interested in joining the lab, click here for more information and any open positions.
news
August 2025 ― New paper out on "evolutionary ecophysiology in extreme environments under a global change scenario" in Conservation Physiology
August 2025 ― Congratulations to Izzy and Solene who have been awarded fully funded PhD studentships to continue working in our lab and will be starting their PhD projects this autumn!
July 2025 ― Jakob presented some results from his PhD project at the SEB conference in Antwerp, Belgium
June 2025 ― Congrats to Izzy for winning an award for best poster presentation at the School of Biology PGR Conference!
April 2025 ― Jakob and Izzy attended and presented at the ASAB conference in Liverpool, UK. Congratulations to Jakob for winning a poster presentation award!
March 2025 ― Natalie has been awarded an "Impact of Climate Change on Health" grant from the Medical Research Foundation to study the effects of temperature on the physiology of Anopheles stephensi, an emerging malaria vector in Africa
January 2025 ― A big welcome to Claire Judas, a visiting Master's student from University of Lille, who will be doing a research project in our lab over the next few months
January 2025 ― Hot off the press! Our meta-analysis of the effects of climate change on the fertility of aquatic species is now out in Ecology Letters (and featured as a Research Highlight in Nature Climate Change)