the Wright lab

I am an evolutionary biologist, with my research group focusing on the genetic basis of domestication, feralisation and the behaviour. We are part of AVIAN, the Behavioural Genomics and Physiology group at Linköping University. My group uses the twin processes of domestication and feralisation to unravel the genetic basis of complex traits. Domestication is an incredibly central process throughout civilization, with widespread effects on the target animal populations. Species like the modern domesticated chicken have experienced enormous selection over the past 8 000 years for everything from size, to color, to anxiety behavior. In contrast, when domestic animals escape or are released into the wild, they will re-adapt to the natural environment whilst being subject to natural and sexual selection once again in a process known as feralisation. Both feralisation and domestication provide powerful tools for studying the effects of such selection.