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
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)
December 2024 ― We're advertising three PhD projects for a September 2025 start date - informal enquires welcome
December 2024 ― Amber and Natalie are presenting virtual talks at the British Ecological Society Meeting
November 2024 ― New paper in Ecology and Evolution showing that intraspecific variation in parental care may reflect variation in parental quality
October 2024 ― Natalie gave an invited talk at the International Congress in Ecology and Evolution in Lyon, France
October 2024 ― A big welcome to Solene Morelle who just joined the lab as a research assistant
September 2024 ― Hot off the press! Check out our new paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on the multiplicative effects of chronic and acute thermal stressors on animal fertility
September 2024 ― New paper in Animal Behaviour showing that heatwaves during early development can have long-term effects on parental care in adulthood
September 2024 ― This month, we welcome Hannah Hughes and Caitlin Tennant who have joined the lab for their Honours projects
August 2024 ― A warm welcome to Jakob Wiil (PhD student) and Isobel Grieve (MRes student) who have just joined the lab!