Silva Uusi-Heikkilä profile picture
Silva
Uusi-Heikkilä
Docent, Department of Biology
PhD in Evolutionary Ecology. Docent in Evolutionary Biology
Equine gut microbiota and responses to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) at the molecular level: FINEBIOME (Finnish eDNA/equine microbiome). Fisheries-induced evolution and adaptive potential.

Contact

Natura, yliopistonmäki
20014
Turku

Areas of expertise

Evolutionary ecology
Experimental ecology
Molecular biology
Next-generation sequencing
Genomics
Microbiomes.

Research

Currently I am investigating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in horses and how it affects gut microbiota diversity and composition and the function of mitochondria in the gut. 

I am also studying the effect of anthropogenic stressors on experimental fish populations. My main focus has been on the effect of size-selective fisheries and during the recent years we have exposed the fish populations to other stressors occurring simultaneously, such as thermal stress, starvation, pollution and infections. In my research group, we have studied the responses at both phenotypic and molecular level (whole genome sequencing, whole genome bisulfate sequencing and RNA sequencing). We also study how thermal stress, hypoxia and genotype affects fish skin microbiota diversity and composition.

Finally, I have studied community ecology by modeling aquatic food webs and their dynamics in response to changes in life-history strategies, stocking and size-selective fishing. 

Publications

Sort by:

Turbidity affects social dynamics in Trinidadian guppies (2015)

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Karoline K. Borner, Stefan Krause, Thomas Mehner, Silva Uusi-Heikkilä, Indar W. Ramnarine, Jens Krause
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

The evolutionary legacy of size-selective harvesting extends from genes to populations (2015)

Evolutionary Applications
Silva Uusi-Heikkilä, Andrew R. Whiteley, Anna Kuparinen, Shuichi Matsumura, Paul A. Venturelli, Christian Wolter, Jon Slate, Craig R. Primmer, Thomas Meinelt, Shaun S. Killen, David Bierbach, Giovanni Polverino, Arne Ludwig, Robert Arlinghaus
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Isoja emokaloja tarvitaan (2015)

Suomen Kalastuslehti
Anna Kristiina Kuparinen, Silva Uusi-Heikkilä, Anssi Vainikka
(Artikkeli ammattilehdessä tai kirjoitus ammatillisessa blogissa (D1))

Evolutionary impact assessment: accounting for evolutionary consequences of fishing in an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (2014)

Fish and Fisheries
Ane T Laugen, Georg H Engelhard, Rebecca Whitlock, Robert Arlinghaus, Dorothy J Dankel, Erin S Dunlop, Anne M Eikeset, Katja Enberg, Christian Jørgensen, Shuichi Matsumura, Sébastien Nusslé, Davnah Urbach, Loїc Baulier, David S Boukal, Bruno Ernande, Fiona D Johnston, Fabian Mollet, Heidi Pardoe, Nina O Therkildsen, Silva Uusi-Heikkilä, Anssi Vainikka, Mikko Heino, Adriaan D Rijnsdorp, Ulf Dieckmann
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Can fisheries-induced evolution shift reference points for fisheries management? (2013)

ICES Journal of Marine Science
Heino M, Baulier L, Boukal DS, Ernande B, Johnston FD, Mollet FM, Pardoe H, Therkildsen NO, Uusi-Heikkila S, Vainikka A, Arlinghaus R, Dankel DJ, Dunlop ES, Eikeset AM, Enberg K, Engelhard GH, Jorgensen C, Laugen AT, Matsumura S, Nussle S, Urbach D, Whitlock R, Rijnsdorp AD, Dieckmann U
(Vertaisarvioitu katsausartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A2))