Trine Bilde

Trine Bilde is a Professor and Centre Director at the Department of Biology, Aarhus University, where she leads the Center for Ecological Genetics (EcoGenetics). Her center investigates genetic diversity-functional response relationships to predict insect distribution under global change and develop biodiversity management tools.

Her research spans evolutionary ecology, genetics, and genomics, with core expertise in social spiders. She examines group living dynamics, cooperation, mating systems (including inbred social structures), genomic consequences of sociality, and genetic/non-genetic adaptation processes. Key projects include the Novo Nordisk Foundation-funded 'The missing link' initiative on arthropod genetic variation in agro-ecosystems.

Recent publications (2024-2025) reveal dominant themes: DNA methylation responses to infection in social spiders, mutation rate reductions from social evolution, and seminatural habitats as genetic reservoirs. Her work consistently links sociality to depleted genomic diversity and reduced selection efficacy, with strong conservation implications for ecosystem services like pollination.

Bilde secured major funding through the Novo Nordisk Foundation Challenge Programme 2020 for her six-year international project on beneficial arthropods in agricultural ecosystems. Historical projects include biogeography of social spiders (2011-2013) and macroecology of Stegodyphus sociality (2009-2013).

The Center for Ecological Genetics (EcoGenetics) serves as her primary research hub, focusing on population genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation, climate adaptation mechanisms, and microbiome dynamics in social spiders under environmental stress.