Université du Québec à Montréal
Postdoctoral fellow candidate
Supervisor: Pedro Peres-Neto
Start: 2011-07-21
End: 2014-09-01
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Project

The effects of environmental changes on life history traits and evolutionary decisions: from individuals to communities
One of the most vibrant and important research goals in ecology today is to understand how environmental circumstances are affecting the regulation of biodiversity from small to large-scales. Recent analyses have revealed that environmental changes alter evolutionary decisions related to key life history events (i.e., reproduction, survival, growth) which, in turn, can lead to negative performance of individuals, populations and entire species. Although we know that environmental changes are affecting the life history of many species (small scales), we have little knowledge of why these changes are taking place and how they may affect the fate of entire species at large-scales. Although we know that environmental changes are affecting the life history of many species (small scales), we have little knowledge of why these changes are taking place and how they may affect the fate of entire species at large-scales. The aim of my current program is to carry out theoretical research using mathematical and computational approaches to understand how changes in the environment can affect life-history decisions and their effects on fitness, and how these decisions can in turn impact populations and communities at different spatial scales. Because populations are connected across large landscapes (metapopulations), negative changes in one or more local populations can lead to large-scale consequences if maladapted individuals are ‘exported’ (via dispersal) to other populations. The aim of my current program is to carry out theoretical research using mathematical and computational approaches to understand how changes in the environment can affect phenotypic integration, and how changes in integration can in turn impact populations and communities at different spatial scales. The use of theoretical approaches rather than experimental ones is necessary due to the constraints in terms of spatial and temporal logistics and these approaches have led to many important insights in several other ecological and evolutionary lines of research, including those related to environmental changes.

Publications

1- Clutch Size and Breeding Success of Black-tailed Gulls (Larus crassirostris) at Hongdo Island, Southeast Coast of South Korea

2006 Ocean and Polar Research

2- The pattern of early growth trajectories affects adult breeding performance
Lee, Who-Seung, Pat Monaghan, Neil B. Metcalfe
2012 Ecology

3- The trade-off between growth rate and locomotor performance varies with perceived time until breeding
Lee, W.-S., P. Monaghan, N. B. Metcalfe
2010 Journal of Experimental Biology

4- A Comparison of Dynamic-State-Dependent Models of the Trade-Off Between Growth, Damage, and Reproduction
Lee, Who-Seung, Neil B. Metcalfe, Pat Monaghan, Marc Mangel
2011 The American Naturalist

5- Experimental demonstration of the growth rate-lifespan trade-off
Lee, W.-S., P. Monaghan, N. B. Metcalfe
2012 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

6- Climate Change and Individual Life History
Lee, Who-Seung
2012 Ocean and Polar Research

7- Egg survival is related to the colour matching of eggs to nest background in Black-tailed Gulls
Lee, Who-Seung, Young-Soo Kwon, Jeong-Chil Yoo
2010 Journal of Ornithology

8- The effects of compensatory growth and reproduction on locomotor performance
Lee, Who Seung, Pat Monaghan, Neil Metcalfe
2009 Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology

9- Habitat Selection by Black-tailed Gulls on Hongdo Island, Korea
Lee, Who-Seung, Young-Soo Kwon, Jeong-Chil Yoo
2008 Waterbirds

10- Multivariate analysis and self-organizing mapping applied to analysis of nest-site selection in Black-tailed Gulls
Lee, Who-Seung, Young-Soo Kwon, Jeong-Chil Yoo, Mi-Young Song, Tae-Soo Chon
2006 Ecological Modelling

11- Evaluation of environmental factors to predict breeding success of Black-tailed Gulls
Lee, Who-Seung, Young-Soo Kwon, Young-Seuk Park, Tae-Soo Chon, Jeong-Chil Yoo
2006 Ecological Informatics

12- The Relationship between Vegetation Cover and Hatching Success, and Chicks' Survival in Black-Tailed Gulls on Hongdo Island

2006 Journal of Ecology and Field Biology