Emilio Rolán-Alvarezīs Personal Web Page

Emilio Rolán-Alvarez

Who am I?

I am an evolutionary geneticist which commonlly uses marine intertidal snails as model organisms. I was born in 1965 at Santiago de Compostela (Spain). I am married with two children (Carlos and Eric) and we live in a small and beautiful village close to Vigo in Galicia (NW Spain).

Research Interest

My research focuses on causes of intraspecific variation mostly at very small scales at both phenotypic and molecular level. Problems of special concern are the role of natural and sexual selection as well as the evolutionary mechanisms of speciation (evolution of reproductive isolation) and adaptation, as well as some projects about biodiversity and conservation (EUMAR from EU and Prestige from Spain) to study the effects of human impacts on genetic diversity within marine species. I have been also developing new statistics to estimate sexual selection and sexual isolation effects.

A few representative papers

  • 1993.- Johannesson, Johannesson & Rolán-Alvarez. Morphological differentiation and genetic cohesiveness over a micro-environmental gradient in the marine snail Littorina saxatilis . Evolution 47: 1770-1787.
  • 1997.- Rolán-Alvarez, Johannesson & Erlandsson. The maintenance of a cline in the marine snail Littorina saxatilis : the role of home site advantage and hybrid fitness in ecotype formation. Evolution 51: 1838-1847.
  • 2000.- Rolán-Alvarez. & Caballero. Estimating sexual selection and sexual isolation effects from mating frequencies. Evolution 54: 30-36.
  • 2005.- Carvajal-Rodríguez, Rolán-Alvarez & Caballero. Quantitative variation as a tool for detecting human-induced impacts on genetic diversity. Biological Conservation 124: 1-13. [PDF]
  • 2005.- Rodríguez-Piñeiro, Carvajal-Rodríguez, Rolán-Alvarez, Rodríguez-Berrocal, Martínez-Fernández & Páez de la Cadena. Aplication of relative warp análisis to the evaluation of two-dimensional gels in proteomics: studying isoelectric point and relative molecular mass variation. Journal of Proteome Research 4(4): 1318-1323. [PDF]
  • 2005.- Rodríguez-Piñeiro, Carvajal-Rodríguez, Rolán-Alvarez, Rodríguez-Berrocal, Martínez-Fernández & Páez de la Cadena. Aplication of relative warp análisis to the evaluation of two-dimensional gels in proteomics: studying isoelectric point and relative molecular mass variation. Journal of Proteome Research 4(4): 1318-1323. [PDF]
  • 2005.- Coyne, Elwyn & Rolán-Alvarez. Impact of experimental design on Drosophila sexual isolation studies: direct effects and comparison to field hybridization data. Evolution 59: 2588-2601. [PDF]
  • 2006.- Carvajal-Rodríguez & Rolán-Alvarez. JMATING: a software for the analysis of sexual selection and sexual isolation effects from mating frequency data. BMC Evolutionary Biology 6: 40-44. [PDF]
  • 2007.- Rolán-Alvarez. Sympatric speciation as a by-product of ecological adaptation in the Galicia Littorina saxatilis hybrid zone. Journal of Molluscan Studies 73: 1-10. [PDF]
  • 2007.- Quesada, Posada, Caballero, Morán & Rolán-Alvarez. Phylogenetic evidence for multiple sympatric ecological diversification in a marine snail. Evolution 61: 1600-1612. [PDF]