Genomics of population outbreaks in the spruce bark beetle
Spruce bark beetle is the most destructive pest of Norway spruce forests because under specific conditions (e.g. storms) populations may outbreak, causing mass mortalities of spruce stands. We are comparing populations of spruce bark beetle that have experienced frequent, recent outbreaks and populations that did not experience outbreaks in the recent past. By combining existing knowledge on biology and ecology of the species with newly generated, large-scale genomic data, we address specific questions about the relationship between genome-wide variation and fluctuating effective population size: How outbreaks affect species genetic structure? Are adaptations in frequently outbreaking populations mainly driven by soft sweeps? How demographic history of the spruce bark beetle and historical fluctuations of effective population size over time affect current patterns of neutral and adaptive variation and many more.