Rate My Professor Charlotta Kvarnemo

Charlotta Kvarnemo is a Professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg, which belongs to the Faculty of Science and Technology. She earned her PhD in 1996 from Uppsala University’s Department of Animal Ecology, with research centered on sexual selection and the influence of operational sex ratios. Throughout her career, she has contributed significantly to evolutionary ecology, including early work at the Department of Zoology, University of Western Australia.

Kvarnemo directs the Kvarnemo Lab, focusing on natural and sexual selection acting on reproductive traits, especially in animals with male parental care. Her investigations cover the evolution of parental care, mating systems, sperm competition, operational sex ratios, filial cannibalism, and processes of local adaptation in native and invasive species. She utilizes experimental approaches in field and laboratory settings, alongside theoretical modeling, phylogenetic analyses, genetic methods, and simulations. Primary study organisms include fish such as gobies, pipefishes, and seahorses, as well as insects like Australian bushcrickets and dance flies. Notable publications include 'The dynamics of operational sex ratios and competition for mates' (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 1996, co-authored with Ingrid Ahnesjö; over 780 citations), 'Polyandry as a mediator of sexual selection before and after mating' (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2004, with Leigh W. Simmons; over 260 citations), 'Female sand gobies gain direct benefits by choosing males with eggs in their nests' (1996; 204 citations), and 'How cuckoldry can decrease the opportunity for sexual selection: data and theory from a genetic parentage analysis of the sand goby' (2001; 187 citations). Her body of work has amassed more than 6,000 citations, achieving an h-index of 44 on Google Scholar. She serves on the department's PhD board.