Dr. Aneil Agrawal, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Toronto, is presenting a talk titled, “The evolution of sex within populations: testing theory,” on Friday, April 26.

He is an evolutionary geneticist who is interested in general properties of genetic systems more so than the history or function of specific genes. He asks questions such as: Are sexually-derived offspring more fit than asexually-derived offspring (and why)? Do mutation and recombination rates change with condition? If so, why would it matter? To what extent are populations burdened by deleterious alleles? How do ecological and genetic factors affect this load? “I approach these problems both theoretically and empirically using the mighty fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.”