Professional summary
Annika's research centres on measuring variation in organisms and exploring how important adaptive traits such as growth, phenology, susceptibility to disease and fitness are associated with their environment, evolutionary history, genetics and genomics.
Although the majority of her work to date has focused on forest trees, she also has experience working with plants, insects, birds and fungi.
Research questions that Annika is interested in include: what is the genetic basis for trait variation, such as susceptibility to disease?; can vulnerable and/or distinctive populations be identified — using genomic and/or trait data — to enable targeted conservation?; and, is it possible to use genomic data to forecast trait variation?
Through her work on Scots pine within the native and ancient Caledonian pinewoods in Scotland, she is contributing to improving our understanding of how populations of this important keystone species are likely to respond to challenges in the future.