Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Floriane E O'Keeffe, Rebecca C Pendleton, Celia V Holland, Pepijn Luijckx, Increased virulence due to multiple infection in Daphnia leads to limited growth in 1 of 2 co-infecting microsporidian parasites, Parasitology, 151, (1), 2024, p58 - 67
Niamh McCartan, Jeremy Piggott, Sadie DiCarlo, and Pepijn Luijckx., Cold snaps lead to a 5-fold increase or a 3-fold decrease in disease proliferation depending on the baseline temperature., 2024
LA Rogers, Z Moore, A Daigle, P Luijckx, M Krkosek, Experimental evidence of size"selective harvest and environmental stochasticity effects on population demography, fluctuations and non"linearity, Ecology Letters, 26, (4), 2023, p586 - 596
JA Orr, P Luijckx, JF Arnoldi, AL Jackson, JJ Piggott, Rapid evolution generates synergism between multiple stressors: linking theory and an evolution experiment, Global Change Biology, 2022, p1 - 13
Charlotte Kunze, Pepijn Luijckx, Andrew Jackson, Ian Donohue, Short-term dynamics of temperature change determine host and disease life history traits, Elife, 2022, p1 - 13
Devin Kirk, Pepijn Luijckx, Natalie Jones, Leila Krichel, Clara Pencer, Péter Molnár and Martin Krko ek, Experimental evidence of warming-induced disease emergence and its prediction by a trait-based mechanistic model, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287, (1936), 2020, p20201526
D Kirk, P Luijckx, A Stanic, M Krko ek, Predicting the thermal and allometric dependencies of disease transmission via the metabolic theory of ecology, The American Naturalist , 193, (5), 2019, p661 - 676
P Luijckx, EKH Ho, A Stanić, AF Agrawal, Mutation accumulation in populations of varying size: large effect mutations cause most mutational decline in the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus under UV‐C radiation, Journal of evolutionary biology , 31, (6), 2018, p924 - 932
Devin Kirk, Natalie Jones, Stephanie Peacock, Jessica Phillips, Péter K. Molnár, Martin Krko ek, and Pepijn Luijckx, Empirical evidence that metabolic theory describes the temperature dependency of within-host parasite dynamics, PLOS Biology, 2018, p1 - 20
Luijckx P., Ho E. K. H., Gasim M., Chen S., Stanic A., Yanchus C., Kim Y. S. and Agrawal A. F, Higher rates of sex evolve during adaptation to more complex environments, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 , (3), 2017, p534 - 539
Ebert D., Duneau D., Hall M.D., Luijckx P., Andras J.P., Du Pasquier L. and Ben-Ami F.A., Population biology perspective on the stepwise infection process of the bacterial pathogen Pasteuria in Daphnia, Advances in parasitology, 91, 2016, p265 - 310
Metzger C. M. J. A., Luijckx P., Bento G., Mariadassou M., and Ebert D. , The Red Queen lives: Epistasis between linked resistance loci. , Evolution, 70, 2016, p480 - 487
Luijckx P., Duneau D., Andras J.P., and Ebert D., Cross-species infection trials reveal cryptic parasite varieties and a putative polymorphism shared among host species., Evolution, 68, 2014, p577 - 586
Luijckx P., Fienberg H., Duneau D., and Ebert D, A matching-allele model explains host resistance to parasites, Current Biology, 23, 2013, p1085 - 1088
Duneau D., Luijckx P., Ruder L. F., and Ebert D, Sex-specific effects of a parasite evolving in a female-biased host population. , BMC Biology, 10, 2012, p1
Luijckx P., Fienberg H., Duneau D., and Ebert D, Resistance to a bacterial parasite in the crustacean Daphnia magna shows Mendelian segregation with dominance., Heredity , 108, 2012, p547 - 551
Duneau D., Luijckx P., Ben-Ami F., Laforsch C. and Ebert D, Resolving the infection process reveals striking differences in the contribution of phylogeny, genetics and environment to host-parasite interactions., BMC Biology, 9, 2011, p11
Luijckx P., Ben-Ami F., Mouton L., Du Pasquier L. and Ebert D, Cloning of the unculturable parasite Pasteuria ramosa and its Daphnia host reveals extreme genotype-genotype interactions, Ecology Letters, 14, 2011, p125 - 131
Coyer J. A., Hoarau G., Van Schaik J., Luijckx P. and Olsen J. L., Trans-Pacific and trans-Arctic pathways of the intertidal macroalga Fucus distichus L. reveal multiple glacial refugia and colonizations from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic., Biogeography, 38, 2011, p756 - 771
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
D Keller, D Kirk, P Luijckx, Four QTL underlie resistance to a microsporidian parasite that may drive genome evolution in its Daphnia host, 2019
Research Expertise
Description
Recent outbreaks of diseases (e.g. Covid, Zika virus) underline the urgency of understanding how diseases transmit, spread and evolve. Although theory describing disease related processes has been well explored, direct empirical evidence for many key theories (e.g. the Red Queen Theory, density thresholds for disease outbreak) and their assumptions remains elusive. Validating these theories will be key to understanding future disease dynamics especially considering that infectious diseases are sensitive rising global temperatures associated with climate change. My research program seeks to test and validate evolutionary and ecological theory pertaining to diseases and parasites by asking: Do hosts density thresholds for disease spread exist? How does temperature and temperature variation impact disease outbreaks? How does genetic diversity among conspecific hosts influence the spread of disease? What is the genetic architecture underlying host-parasite interactions and how does it conform to the assumptions of evolutionary models? Why is sex so widespread despite its two-fold costs? How do multiple stressors associated with anthropogenic change interact and alter disease? To address these questions, I use Daphnia and its parasites (various microsporidia, bacteria, fungi and recently also a virus). This biomedical model system has numerous genetic tools available (QTL, GWAS, RNAi) and has a rich literature describing its biology. It is especially suited to perform experimental epidemiology, can be easily manipulated and is highly accessible for undergraduate and graduate students. Indeed, my research program has effectively addressed critical gaps in current knowledge, resulting in numerous high-impact publications in prestigious journals such as PNAS, Ecology Letters, and eLife. Moreover, with several projects nearing completion, I anticipate a continued upward trend in publication output. Currently, drafts for five manuscripts are finalized (with one accepted in BMC Biology pending minor revisions), and data analysis for an additional six manuscripts has been completed.Recognition
Representations
Review Editor Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
External examiner PhD defense Stirling University
Awards and Honours
highly commended, IEA (Irish Ecological Association) Excellent Ecology mid-career award.
Memberships
British Ecological Society
Irish Ecological Association
European Society for Evolutionary Biology