Rapid Evolution

In today's world of increasingly rapid global change, understanding how (or even whether) plants adapt and evolve to novel environmental conditions is critical for both managing problematic invasions as well as conserving the native species we want to protect.  Consequently, I am fascinated by how local adaptation (especially to climate and insect herbivory) can drive different evolutionary trajectories in a plant's native vs. introduced ranges.  I have explored this in three systems so far:

For my PhD, I investigated whether between-range differences in performance of common mullein were driven by adaptation to herbivory or climate.  My collaborators and I found that a genetically based cline in performance in common mullein's native range (seeds produce smaller rosettes the cooler and drier their climate of origin) but not in the plant's introduced range (seeds produce large rosette regardless of their climate of origin) drives plants, on average, to be larger in their introduced rather than native range (read our Journal of Ecology article here to learn more).

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As a postdoc and then research associate, I explored whether local adaptation to climate helps explain genetic variation among populations of Japanese knotweeds (Reynoutria japonica, R. sachalinensis, and their hybrid R. x bohemica) as well as the invasive and native subspecies of Phragmites australis.  As an associate professor at UNCW, me and my team continue to expand upon this research.