Charlotte Rosher

Charlotte Rosher

Erasmus Mundus Master’s student in Evolutionary Biology
My research project combines two fascinating fields in experimental evolution; public goods dynamics and evolutionary rescue. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, siderophores are a public good which are exploited by non-siderophore producing cheats in iron-limiting environments. Previous work in the lab has demonstrated that the costs of non-lethal antibiotic stress interact with costs of public goods production to accentuate selection for non-producing cheaters. My project investigates what happens to such social interactions when populations are placed under lethal antibiotic stress and require resistance mutations to be rescued from extinction.
For the last two semesters of my master’s program I am working on projects relating another interest of mine, how genetic changes produce novel behaviours. Firstly, in the Gompel lab at LMU Munich, I am investigating the evolution of mechanosensory perception in Drosophila in the context of oviposition site choice. Secondly, in the Hoekstra lab at Harvard University, I am investigating how behavioural patterns in Peromyscus species have given rise to different burrow architecture.