New PhD student
I am pleased to announce that Arttu Soukainen has joined the research group as a doctoral researcher. Arttu completed his Master of Science at the University of Helsinki in the Life Science Informatics programme, specializing in Ecological Informatics.
Research focus
Arttu’s doctoral project will focus on developing life history models to understand the evolution of ageing. His first project will focus on the evolution of negative senescence, a phenomenon that challenges our conventional understanding of ageing.
Negative senescence: when ageing runs backwards
While most organisms experience declining survival and fertility with age, a remarkable subset of species exhibits the opposite pattern: their mortality rates decrease and reproductive output increases as they grow older. This phenomenon, termed negative senescence, has been documented across diverse taxa including certain fish species (e.g., rockfish, sturgeons), reptiles (e.g., desert tortoises, tuataras), and perennial plants.
The evolutionary mechanisms underlying negative senescence remain poorly understood. One hypothesis is that indeterminate growth where organisms continue growing throughout their lives, allows larger, older individuals to achieve higher fecundity and lower predation risk, effectively reversing the typical pattern of senescence. However, the conditions favoring the evolution of indeterminate growth versus determinate growth, and how this interacts with resource allocation strategies and environmental constraints, remain open questions.
Arttu’s work will develop theoretical models to explore these questions, with potential implications for understanding the diversity of ageing patterns across the tree of life.
Welcome to the group, Arttu!