Eevi Savola

Research Overview

I am a BBSRC EASTBIO Doctoral Training PhD student working at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Edinburgh.

My PhD research focuses on the effects of nutrition, particularly dietary restriction using different protein-to-carbohydrate ratios, on reproduction, survival, and ageing in fruit flies. My work has explored whether more stressful and ecologically realistic environments help explain variation in responses to dietary restriction that is often observed under laboratory conditions.

I am interested in how environmental conditions influence disease outcomes, life-history traits, and ageing, and how laboratory studies can better reflect natural environments.

Background

For my undergraduate research project, I worked on host–parasite interactions in water fleas (Daphnia magna) with Dieter Ebert's evolutionary biology group in Basel, Switzerland.

Before starting my PhD, I also contributed to research projects within the Ebert group, further developing my interests in evolutionary biology, host–parasite interactions, and environmental effects on biological processes.

Publications

Testing Evolutionary Explanations for the Lifespan Benefit of Dietary Restriction in Fruit Flies (Drosophila melanogaster)
Savola E, Montgomery C, Waldron FM, Monteith K, Vale PF & Walling CA
Evolution (2020)

Lifespan Extension by Dietary Restriction: Time to Reconsider the Evolutionary Mechanisms?
Moatt JP, Savola E, Regan JC, Nussey DH & Walling CA
BioEssays (2020), 42:1900241

Assessment of Parasite Virulence in a Natural Population of a Planktonic Crustacean
Savola E & Ebert D
BMC Ecology (2019), 19:14

Preprints

Testing Evolutionary Explanations for the Lifespan Benefit of Dietary Restriction in Drosophila melanogaster
Savola E, Montgomery C, Waldron FM, Monteith K, Vale PF & Walling CA
bioRxiv (2020)