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Dr. Pepijn Luijckx
Assistant Professor in Parasite Biology, Zoology

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 Journal Article, 2024

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 Working Paper, 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 Journal Article, 2023

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 Journal Article, 2022 DOI

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 Journal Article, 2022

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 Journal Article, 2020 DOI

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 Journal Article, 2019

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 Journal Article, 2018

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 Journal Article, 2018 URL

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 Journal Article, 2017

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 Journal Article, 2016

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 Journal Article, 2016

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 Journal Article, 2014

Luijckx P., Fienberg H., Duneau D., and Ebert D, A matching-allele model explains host resistance to parasites, Current Biology, 23, 2013, p1085 - 1088 Journal Article, 2013

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 Journal Article, 2012

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 Journal Article, 2012

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 Journal Article, 2011

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 Journal Article, 2011

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 Journal Article, 2011

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 Working Paper, 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.

Keywords

Animal Parasitic Diseases; Bacterial pathogenicity; Biology; CLIMATE CHANGE; COEVOLUTION; DISEASE; Epidemiology; Evolutionary genetics; Freshwater ecology; GENETIC; HOST; Infectious diseases; Molecular population genetics; Parasitology; Public health; SEX; Vaccines

Recognition

Representations

Review Editor Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 29/08/2022

External examiner PhD defense Stirling University 20/09/2024

Awards and Honours

highly commended, IEA (Irish Ecological Association) Excellent Ecology mid-career award. 2019

Memberships

British Ecological Society 2019

Irish Ecological Association 2018

European Society for Evolutionary Biology 2008