Ayco TackProfessor
Om mig
Research interest
I am broadly interested in the ecology and evolution of species interactions. I currently aim to combine experimental, theoretical and molecular techniques to study interkingdom interactions between plants, microbes and insects. For this, I have worked extensively on the spatial dynamics of the insect and pathogen community on the oak tree Quercus robur and the below- and aboveground food web surrounding the perennial herb Plantago lanceolata. More recently, I expanded my research to the diseases and insects on semi-wild coffee in SW Ethiopia, and started to explore new study systems associated with Sweden’s perennial plants, such as the beautiful fungi on the wood anemone and the bird's eye primrose. Overall, I am broadly interested how ecological and evolutionary interactions between plants, insects and microbes play out in a spatial setting.
Group members
Group members are Álvaro Gaytán (PhD student), Biruk Nurihun (PhD student), Beyene Hailu (postdoctoral researcher), Laura van Dijk (postdoctoral researcher), Francesco Zignol (postdoctoral researcher), Xenia Gomm (MSc student) and Maansi Sharan (MSc student). I co-supervise David Åhlen (PhD student), Firew Bekele (PhD student) and Petter Madsen (PhD student).Master students
If you are looking for a master project, I would be happy to suggest or supervise projects on a broad range of topics related to plants, microbes and insects, either in Sweden or in Ethiopia (or why not somewhere else). Please feel free to send me an informal email or walk into my office. You may also browse my publications and personal website (www.plantmicrobeinsect.com) to get a feel for the topics I work on. (That said, I would also be happy to supervise a project that is somewhat out of the scope of my current projects.)For more information and publications:
Teaching
I am coordinating the course Statistics for Biologists III (7.5 ECTS) in early winter (December / January). In spring I co-organize the course Interactions in Ecological Communities (15 ECTS) and lecture in the course Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions.
