Katja Rönkä

For the last four years I have been a Doctoral student in the University of Jyväskylä as a part of Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, supervised by Prof. Johanna Mappes and Dr. Bibiana Rojas from University of Jyväskylä and Prof. Niklas Wahlberg from Lund University.

During this time I have been aiming to answer why the aposematic Wood Tiger Moth (Arctia plantaginis) comes in so many colours – the sympatric maintenance of multiple warning colour morphs is an evolutionary dilemma. My research has involved a variety of techniques varying form molecular systematics to behavioural assays with birds and moths to large-scale predation experiments in the field.

I am interested in a wide range of research topics, but my main focus involves species interactions and the dynamic interplay between ecology and evolution creating and maintaining biodiversity. Previously, during my master’s studies in the University of Helsinki, I was investigating another Lepidoptera system, the False Heath Fritillary (Melitaea diamina), which is an endangered species in Finland. With this species, me and my supervisors Dr. Otso Ovaskainen, Dr. Mar Cabeza and Dr. Henna Fabritius, tested how different landscape features affect the species movement. During my studies of ecology and evolution, mainly focused in population level dynamics and adaptation, I also worked at the Finnish Museum of Natural History LUOMUS, where I got to see biodiversity captured in the samples of insect collections.

I have a passion for fieldwork and enjoy spending my time observing animals in the laboratory, testing for hypotheses on how and why such diversity of lifeforms has come to be and is maintained. In addition to collaborating and discussing with other enthusiastic evolutionary biologists, I am also involved in Science Outreach projects to raise more public awareness of natural processes and nature itself.