The full list of my publications can be found on my Google Scholar profile

Below is the list of key publications and short description of why I consider them important: 

Forestier R, Blanchard J, Nash K, Fulton EA, Johnson C, Audzijonyte A (accepted) Interacting forces of predation and fishing affect species’ maturation size. Ecology and Evolution (preprint) 

This is one of the few studies exploring dynamic and adaptive evolution in a multispecies model. By dynamic we mean that we look at the temporal changes through time, rather than at stable states in equilibrium conditions (which makes modelling easier, but dot not exist in nature). The study asked the question that still remains unclear in fisheries induced evolution research – can predation pressure balance out selection imposed by fisheries? Fisheries alone are selecting for earlier maturation, but this comes at a cost of smaller body size. Predation instead can select for fastest early growth to escape highest predation size window. Using a physiologically structured size based model we found that the answer depends on the species size. Large bodied species were always affected by fishing, whereas for smallest species predation was the major force. Yet, for medium sized species predation could indeed counteraction the effect of fishing, but the outcome was highly stochastic and naturally depended on fishing intensity. 

Audzijonyte A, Richards SA, Stuart-Smith RD, Pecl G, Edgar GJ, Barrett NS, Payne N, Blanchard JL (2020) Fish body sizes change with temperature, but not all species shrink with warming. Nature Ecology and Evolution 4 (6), 809-814

In this study we use underwater visual census data to assess how environmental temperature affects average intra-specific body size through space and time. Here is a popular science blog explaining the main findings and here is a short video explaining the study.

Audzijonyte, A., Barneche, D.R., Baudron, A.R., Belmaker, J., Clark, T.D., Marshall, C.T., Morrongiello, J.R. and van Rijn, I. (2019). Is oxygen limitation in warming waters a valid mechanism to explain decreased body sizes in aquatic ectotherms? Global Ecology and Biogeography, 28(2), 64-77. (DOI: 10.1111/geb.12847)

When raised in warmer waters ectotherms, such as fish, typically grow to smaller adult sizes, and mature earlier. This is called temperature size rule. In recent years there has been intense debate on whether this rule could be explained by limited capacity of fish gills to supply sufficient oxygen for growth in warmer waters (see Pauly et al. and Lefevre et al. papers to learn more about the debate). In this study we review a number of alternative mechanisms that could explain the temperature size rule, suggesting that more targeted research and experiments are needed to distinguish among them. We also highlight that studies should not mix intra- and inter-specific processes and address the question of intergenerational acclimation and adaption. 

Audzijonyte A, Richards SA (2018) The energetic cost of reproduction and its effect on optimal life-history strategies. American Naturalist, 192, 1-13. 

In this study we propose a physiologically structured model, where maturation age and size are not set as a fixed parameters, but emerge dynamically from energy allocation to growth versus reproduction. The main novel aspect is the size dependent cost of reproduction, which represents the energy overheads an individuals needs to spend in order to reproduce. If the size dependency is strong, the reproductive output will increase hyper-allometrically with body size. This way, we suggest one potential mechanism that could explain such hyper-allometric scaling, observed in many fish (Barneche et al. 2018, Science)

Audzijonyte A, Fulton EA, Haddon M, Helidoniotis F, Hobday AJ, Kuparinen A, Morrongiello JR, Smith ADM, Upston J, Waples R (2016) Trends and management implications of human-influenced life-history changes in marine ectotherms. Fish and Fisheries, 17, 1005-1028 

One of the earlier studies highlighting the potentially synergistic impacts of fisheries and climate change on marine ectotherm life-histories

Waples RS, Audzijonyte A (2016) Fishery‐induced evolution provides insights into adaptive responses of marine species to climate change. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 14, 217-224 

The first paper to discuss that climate change and fisheries are likely to lead to similar evolutionary responses

Audzijonyte A, Kuparinen A (2016) The role of life histories and trophic interactions in population recovery. Conservation Biology, 30: 734-743 

This paper demonstrates that when species interactions are taken into account earlier maturation and “faster” life histories may, in many cases, result in decreased population growth rates and resilience to exploitation. This is in stark contrast to the common assumption in fisheries, which has important implications for fisheries management 

Audzijonyte A, Kuparinen A, Fulton EA (2014) Ecosystem effects of contemporary life-history changes are comparable to those of fishing. Marine Ecology Progress Series 495, 219-231 

This study shows that, when species interactions are taken into account, for many species even small (2-4%) changes in growth rate and body sizes are comparable to those of a moderate fishery 

Audzijonyte A, Kuparinen A, Fulton EA (2013) Ecological consequences of body size decline in harvested fish species: positive feedback loops in trophic interactions amplify human impact. Biology Letters, 9(2):1103 

The first paper to explore the ecological consequences of changes in fish life-histories in a multi-species ecosystem model. The paper shows how predator-prey feedback loops can amplifying effects of small decreases in body sizes, leading to large changes in species biomass 

 Audzijonyte A, Kuparinen A, Fulton EA (2013) How fast is fisheries-induced evolution? Quantitative analysis of modelling and empirical studies. Evolutionary Applications, 6: 585-595 

In this study we perform a quantitative analyse modelled and empirically reported fishery-induced evolutionary changes in fish stocks. We show that fisheries induced evolutionary rates in different modelling studies are rather similar, but about four times slower (for a similar level of fishing intensity) than trait changes observed in wild fish stocks. 

Audzijonyte A, Krylova EM, Sahling H, Vrijenhoek RC (2012) Molecular taxonomy reveals broad trans-oceanic distributions and high species diversity of deep-sea clams (Bivalvia: Vesicomyidae: Pliocardiinae) in chemosynthetic environments. Systematics and Biodiversity 10:4, 403-415  

A comprehensive collaborative review of species diversity in chemosynthetic deep sea clams. Chemosynthetic environments hold an amazing diversity of species, often living sympatrically and seemingly very similar. We used molecular and morphological analyses to (hopefully) once and for all clarify many taxonomic uncertainties in this diverse group of species. We also show that some species have identical mitochondrial sequences in areas as distant coasts of Japan and coasts of California. This study was nominated for the Taylor & Francis Outstanding Paper Prize 

Audzijonyte A, Vrijenhoek C (2010) When gaps really are gaps: statistical phylogeography of hydrothermal vent invertebrates. Evolution, 64: 2369-2384 

In this paper we have introduced a novel statistically rigorous modelling framework to distinguish between alternative factors that could explain observed genetic diversity in fragmented species

Audzijonyte A, Wittmann KJ, Väinölä R (2008) Tracing recent invasions of the Ponto-Caspian mysid shrimp Hemimysis anomala across Europe and to North America with mitochondrial DNA. Diversity and Distributions 14: 179-186

This study traces invasion routes and sources of an invasive crustacean, presenting key information on genetic diversity in a logistically difficult to access native distribution area of southern Russia (which has been sampled through expeditions that I have arranged).  

Audzijonyte A, Väinölä R (2005) Diversity and distributions of circumpolar fresh- and brackish-water Mysis (Crustacea: Mysida): descriptions of M. relicta Lovén, 1862, M. salemaai n. sp., M. segerstralei n. sp. and M. diluviana n. sp., based on molecular and morphological characters. Hydrobiologia 544: 89-141 

My first senior-author publication revealing cryptic species diversity in a widespread ecologically important species. This is still my most cited paper, which is fairly unusual for taxonomic descriptions.