Ian Dewan

Research

I’m currently a postdoctoral researcher with Arnaud Le Rouzic, working on mathematical models of the horizontal transfer and phylogenetic distribution of transposable element families. My work is part of a project to understand the role of viruses in horizontal gene transfer in eukaryotes.

This project fits into my broader research interest in models of the population genetics of accessory and extrachromosomal genetic elements. This was also previously the subject of my doctoral thesis, in the group of Hildegard Uecker. I’m interested in elucidating the unique role played by extrachromosomal genetic elements in a variety of biological systems, and I’ve worked on models of the roles of multicopy plasmids in bacteria and extrachromosomal circular DNA in yeast in adaptation to sudden environmental change.

In the broadest sense, my research interests are in the application of mathematics, particularly probabilistic and stochastic models, to problems in evolution and ecology. This has included working on models of optimal predator behaviour under uncertainty in the course of an MSc with Tom Sherratt.

Publications

See also my Google Scholar and ORCID profiles.

• Dewan I & Uecker H (2025). “Evolutionary rescue of bacterial populations by heterozygosity on multicopy plasmids.” Journal of Mathematical Biology 90(3). doi:10.1007/s00285-025-02182-4
• Sherratt TN, Beatty CD, Dewan I, Di Iorio K, Finkelstein I, Loeffler-Henry K, Miller M, Para F, Raposo M, & Sherratt F (2025). “Territorial-sneaker games with non-uniform interaction and female mate choice.” Behavioral Ecology 36(2). doi:10.1093/beheco/araf002
• Dewan I & Uecker H (2024). “Is the distribution of plasmid lengths bimodal?” Plasmid 129. doi:10.1016/j.plasmid.2024.102721
• Dewan I & Uecker H (2023). “A mathematician’s guide to plasmids: an introduction to plasmid biology for modellers.” Microbiology 169(7). doi:10.1099/mic.0.001362
• Sherratt TN, Dewan I, & Skelhorn J (2023). “The optimal time to approach an unfamiliar object: a Bayesian model.” Behavioral Ecology 34(5), pp. 840–849. doi:10.1093/beheco/arad032
• Han KY, Kröger L, Buchholz F, Dewan I, Quaas M, Schulenburg H, & Reusch TBH (2023). “The economics of microbiodiversity.” Ecological Economics 204. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107664
• Beauvais-Feisthauer J, Blute R, Dewan I, Drummond B, & Jacqmin P-A (2020). “Finiteness spaces, étale groupoids and their convolution algebras.” Semigroup Forum 101(2), pp. 243–258. doi:10.1007/s00233-020-10096-4
• Dewan I, Garland T, Hiramatsu L, & Careau V (2019). “I Smell a Mouse: Indirect Genetic Effects on Voluntary Wheel-Running Distance, Duration and Speed.” Behavior Genetics 49(1), pp. 49–59. doi:10.1007/s10519-018-9930-2

Conference Presentations

Evolutionary Rescue — Bridging the Gap between Theory and Experiments (June 2025)

Extrachromosomal genetic elements as drivers of evolutionary rescue in bacteria and yeast

Joint with Mario Santer

Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology (July 2024)

Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution 2024

Stochastic Models and Experiments in Ecology and Biology 2024

Adaptation through copy number variation of eccDNA in yeast

Mathematical Models of Evolutionary Rescue (June 2023)

Rescue of bacterial populations by plasmid-mediated heterozygosity

Modelling Resistance Evolution — Theoretical Methodology Symposium (April 2023)

Evolution of multidrug resistance from plasmid-mediated heterozygosity

Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution 2022

Plasmid-mediated heterozygosity, multidrug resistance, and evolutionary rescue in bacteria

Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution 2019

Run Away! Optimal Predator Responses to Startle Displays

Ottawa-Carleton Institute of Biology Symposium 2019

Run Away! The Adaptive Advantage of Being Startled

Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution Meeting 2018

Too Close for Comfort: Modelling Predator Generalization of Prey Palatability

Wild Animal Model Biennial Meeting 2017

IGEs and Voluntary Wheel Running in Mice