Does metamorphosis facilitate or constrain adaptation to new environments?

Improved understanding of what facilitates and constrains rapid evolution is essential to predict how organismswill respond to environmental change. This project investigates how evolution is influenced by genomic conflictoccurring between life-stages in animals that undergo metamorphosis. It uses an ecologically important group ofAustralian beetles to measure larval and adult traits that are key in adapting to climate change. This project willlead to an improved ability to predict how insects and other animals with metamorphosis will adapt to climatechange. Further, this project will provide fundamental knowledge that will impact how we manage of a wide rangeof economically important insects.