Irja Ida Ratikainen

Irja Ida Ratikainen is Researcher and Associate Professor at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. She is affiliated with the Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD), an NTNU centre of excellence, and is an elected member of The Young Academy of Norway.

Education

• M.Sc. 2005 – University of Oslo, Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES): roe deer habitat selection.
• Ph.D. 2012 – NTNU, Department of Biology: behavioural ecology in variable environments, focusing on the common (Siberian) jay.

Research Interests

Her work integrates behavioural ecology, evolutionary ecology and conservation biology to understand how organisms cope with environmental variability and climate change. Core themes include:

• Mechanisms of adaptation to unpredictable environments (bet-hedging, phenotypic plasticity, reversible plasticity)
• Life-history evolution and trade-offs (lifespan, reproduction, parental investment)
• Theoretical modelling of eco-evolutionary dynamics
• Impacts of climate change on biodiversity and population persistence

Scientific Awards & Recognition

• Elected member, The Young Academy of Norway (Akademiet for yngre forskere)
• Subject manager for behavioural biology and ecology at Store norske leksikon (snl.no) since 2013

Advising & Grants

Dr Ratikainen has supervised master’s students investigating sex-specific space use in wild alpine reindeer and disease transmission dynamics. She leads a research group developing general theoretical models to predict organismal responses to environmental change, with implications for conservation and biodiversity management.

Laboratory & Teams

She heads the research group within the Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics at NTNU, collaborating with national and international partners to combine empirical data and theoretical approaches in evolutionary ecology.