Unit for Theoretical Biology

Unit for Theoretical Biology

The work in our unit is motivated by theoretical and conceptual questions in organismal evolutionary biology. Systemic properties of organisms, such as developmental and physiological processes, as well as their interactions with the environment, strongly influence their ability to respond to selection and to evolve. Our goal is to identify and understand these interactions in order to explain how the enormous diversity of life has evolved and continues to evolve. In pursuit of this general goal, we apply and advance theoretical, biometric, comparative, and experimental research methods.

Latest News

12.02.2026
 

New paper in Management of Biological Invasions

Global framework for communication of biological invasion risks.

12.01.2026
 

Denise Dick-Disacke

The invasive amphibian fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in Vienna: Biomonitoring using environmental DNA

07.01.2026
 

New paper in Nature

Early hominins from Morocco basal to the Homo sapiens lineage.

22.11.2025
 

New paper in Evolution

Cracking open the blackbox of genotype–phenotype map: crossing the explanatory gap between micro- and macroevolution

12.11.2025
 

Rupert Riedl at 100

The endless pursuit of life's hidden order

10.11.2025
 

New paper in Annals of the Natural History Museum Vienna

Rediscovery of lost syntypes of the Crimean shemaya Alburnus mentoides Kessler, 1859 (Teleostei, Leuciscidae) and designation of a lectotype.