Professor ZHANG Wei from Peking University Visits IHB on September 21, 2023 (Credit: IHB)

Prof. ZHANG Wei from the School of Life Sciences at Peking University was invited to the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for an academic exchange on Sept. 21, 2023. She delivered a lecture titled "The Trilogy of Butterfly Mimicry" during her visit.  

Prof. Zhang first introduced the diversity of butterflies, emphasizing the seemingly simple yet intricately patterned and functionally significant features of butterfly wings. These characteristics make butterflies an excellent system for studying species formation and adaptive evolution.  

The audience engaged in a lively exchange and discussion with Prof. Zhang on topics such as the ecological functions of mimicry, the mechanisms behind its formation, and the transitions between different mimicry types. Zhang also encouraged the graduate students to consider solving scientific problems as intrinsic motivation and to master new technical methods through continuous trial and error. 

Zhang’s research tackles some fundamental evolutionary questions such as speciation, adaptation, and introgression. In particular, their work focuses on integrating experimental and computational approaches to study adaptive introgression in model and non-model organisms. Their research interests also include investigating anti-predator adaptation such as mimicry, aposematic coloration, and camouflage in insects. Her research findings have been published in journals such as Cell, Nature, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Genome Biology, and Molecular Biology and Evolution.