Abstract
How genes and the environment interact in determining phenotypic variation and the selection processes that mould this variation is a fundamental question in biology diversity. The study object, to determine a population's dynamics and variation over time, is a population of the collared flycatcher, which is one of few studied vertebrate populations in the world where this is feasible.It is possible to follow individually marked adults through out their entire life and, uniquely, also a large proportion of their offspring throughout their life. This makes its feasible to test a combination of genetic and environmental factors in evolutionary models of general interest for biodiversity. In a large set of sub-populations of different sizes and environmental managing, the dynamics of population size, age structure, genetic variation, inbreeding, and dispersal will be studied in relation to the biotic environment (hybridisation with pied flycatchers, interspecific competition with tits, parasite infections), the management of the habitat (access to nest holes and feeding environment, tree spp. and density of insects) and climate change.
Sweden