Michael Le Pepke
Background and activities
I am a PhD student at the Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics and I have a broad interest in molecular ecology, ornithology, life-history evolution, phylogenetics and biogeography. In my PhD project, I investigate telomere dynamics and life-history trade-offs in populations of free-living (wild) house sparrows in northern Norway, where I do field work. I am collaborating with the University of Glasgow (telomere ecology), the University of Copenhagen (avian diversification) and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (DNA barcoding).
I have an undergraduate background in nanoscience and a master in ecology and evolution from the University of Copenhagen. My PhD supervisor is Thor Harald Ringsby, co-supervisors are Thomas Kvalnes, Henrik Jensen and Jonathan Wright.
Contact me if you like avian insularity, telomere biology or are interested in master projects involving field work – projects range wide within ecology and eco-evolutionary dynamics; insects, parasites, feeding rates, ecophysiology.
I am teaching in these courses at NTNU:
Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Ethology BI1003
Genetics and Evolution I BI2017
Evolutionary and Ecological Genetics BI8082
Experimental Study Design BI3052
Natural Resource Management RFEL3081
Experts in Teamwork - Sustainable aquaculture in feeding the future BI2097
Scientific, academic and artistic work
Displaying a selection of activities. See all publications in the database
Journal publications
- (2020) Birds and bugs: Trapping and tracking the vital insect food for young birds. NTNU Fagblogg.
- (2020) Accounting for phylogenetic relatedness in cross-species analyses of telomere shortening rates. Experimental Results. vol. 1.
- (2019) Arternes gråzoner, Ideer, 22/2. Weekendavisen.
- (2019) Reconciling supertramps, great speciators and relict species with the taxon cycle stages of a large island radiation (Aves: Campephagidae). Journal of Biogeography. vol. 46 (6).
- (2018) Komparativ kognition og naturlig intelligens: Kloge krager, intelligente insekter og dumme dyr. Kvant: tidsskrift for fysik og astronomi. vol. 2.
- (2018) Vilde dyr ældes også. Aktuel Naturvidenskab. vol. 1.
- (2018) Phylogeography of a ‘great speciator’ (Aves: Edolisoma tenuirostre) reveals complex dispersal and diversification dynamics across the Indo-Pacific. Journal of Biogeography. vol. 45 (4).
- (2017) Truede arter, Ideer, 28/4. Weekendavisen.
Report/dissertation
- (2016) Phylogeny and biogeography of Campephagidae (Aves: Passeriformes): Great speciators, supertramps and taxon cycles. Master thesis. 2016.
Others
- (2019) Stories of Træna. Maja Bygdén & Emma Lysholm [Tidsskrift]. 2019-07-01.
- (2018) Long-term spatio-temporal variation in early-life telomere length of a wild passerine. 27th International Ornithological Congress (IOC) ; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 2018-08-18 - 2018-08-26.
- (2017) Sporene etter oppvekstforholdene kan vare livet ut.
- (2017) Telomere dynamics and telomere ecology of house sparrows. Danish Oikos Ecological Society Meeting . OIKOS Denmark; Copenhagen. 2017-03-10 - 2017-03-11.
- (2017) Telomere dynamics of wild house sparrows under opposing body size selection. International Conference on Understanding Diversity in Telomere Dynamics . University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh; Edinburgh. 2017-10-03 - 2017-10-05.
- (2017) Consequences of opposing body size selection regimes on telomere dynamics in wild house sparrows. 16th Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) . European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB); Groningen. 2017-08-20 - 2017-08-25.