Suvi Ruuskanen
PhD, adjunct professor
skruus@utu.fi Vesilinnantie 5 Turku Office: 042 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5582-9455 |
Evolutionary ecology; physiological ecology; ecotoxicology and environmental ecology; behavioral ecology;epigenetics; avian ecology
My research fields are at the intersection of evolutionary ecology, ecophysiology and behavioral and environmental ecology. I am broadly interested in the proximate physiological mechanisms underlying variation in phenotypic, behavioral and fitness traits and their plasticity. I want to understand how physiologically-regulated traits enable organismal adaptation to changing environmental conditions and play a part in species interactions, potentially even affecting population processes. I am also interested in how interactions with microbes (gut microbiome) relate to phenotypic variation in wild populations. I further want to understand more broadly how various early-life environmental conditions affects offspring development and fitness with a specific interest in non-genetic inheritance, such as maternal effects and epigenetics
Current group members:
Post-docs: Bin-Yan Hsu (UTU), Antoine Stier (UTU)
PhD students: Tom Sarraude (UTU/University of Gronigen), Nina Cossin-Sevrin (UTU)
MSc students: Lotta Holmen (UTU), Mark Verschuuren (NIOO, NL), Lyydia Leino (UTU)
BSc students: Mikaela Hukkanen (UTU)
Visiting: Coline Marciau
Interns:
Research group pages: https://sites.utu.fi/ruuskanengroup/
Ecology, evolutionary biology, physiology:
2018-2019-2020
Vertebrate ecology research (BIOL2204)
Seminars in Biology (BIOL5200)
Ecotoxicology (FYGE2060)
Presenting and Publishing Data (BIOL5201)
- Transgenerational endocrine disruption: Does elemental pollution affect egg or nestling thyroid hormone levels in a wild songbird? (2019)
- Environmental Pollution
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Transient growth-enhancing effects of elevated maternal thyroid hormones at no apparent oxidative cost during early postnatal period (2019)
- Journal of Avian Biology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - A new method for measuring thyroid hormones using nano-LC-MS/MS (2018)
- Journal of Chromatography B
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Antioxidant Enzyme Activities Vary with Predation Risk and Environmental Conditions in Free-Living Passerine Birds (2018)
- Physiological and Biochemical Zoology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal egg hormones in the mating context: The effect of pair personality (2018)
- Functional Ecology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal Thyroid Hormones: An Unexplored Mechanism Underlying Maternal Effects in an Ecological Framework (2018)
- Physiological and Biochemical Zoology
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - Egg Thyroid Hormones: An Unexplored Mechanism for Maternal Effects in Birds (2017)
- Integrative and Comparative Biology
(Other publication) - Food supplementation, but not predation risk, alters female antioxidant status during breeding (2017)
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Spatio-temporal variation in the body condition of female pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) in a polluted environment (2017)
- Urban Ecosystems
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Effects of dietary lead exposure on vitamin levels in great tit nestlings - An experimental manipulation (2016)
- Environmental Pollution
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Effects of experimentally manipulated yolk thyroid hormone levels on offspring development in a wild bird species (2016)
- Hormones and Behavior
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Experimental manipulation of food availability leads to short-term intra-clutch adjustment in egg mass but not in yolk androgen or thyroid hormones (2016)
- Journal of Avian Biology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Heritable variation in maternally derived yolk androgens, thyroid hormones and immune factors (2016)
- Heredity
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal transfer of androgens in eggs is affected by food supplementation but not by predation risk (2016)
- Journal of Avian Biology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Temperature-induced variation in yolk androgen and thyroid hormone levels in avian eggs (2016)
- General and Comparative Endocrinology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Yolk steroids in great tit Parus major eggs: variation and covariation between hormones and with environmental and parental factors (2016)
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Do insectivorous birds use volatile organic compounds from plants as olfactory foraging cues? Three experimental tests (2015)
- Ethology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Effects of early-life lead exposure on oxidative status and phagocytosis activity in great tits (Parus major) (2015)
- Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part C: Toxicology and Pharmacology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Hormonally-mediated maternal effects in birds: Lessons from the flycatcher model system (2015)
- General and Comparative Endocrinology
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - No delayed behavioral and phenotypic responses to experimental early-life lead exposure in great tits (Parus major) (2015)
- Environmental Science and Pollution Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
