Ananda D'Elia

During my university studies, I discovered my passion for investigating evolutionary mechanisms through integrative approaches. As a graduate student working with Neotropical cichlid fishes, I am particularly interested in combining genomics and ecological data to unravel the basis of adaptations and their consequences in natural populations. I am also very interested in applying genomics for wildlife conservation and management. 

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The visual system serves as a powerful framework for studying diverse adaptive phenotypes, which have a direct link to underlying molecular mechanisms and often significantly impact local fitness and speciation processes. My ongoing project tests the presence of visual adaptations in cichlid fishes from the Crenicichla genus and explores how they correlate with trophic ecology, phylogenetics, and environmental conditions.