People

I am interested in the creative role of hybridization and polyploidy towards the generation and maintenance of plant diversity. My postdoc project was to work on understanding the evolutionary history of the Viburnum dentatum species complex in eastern North America, and how polyploidy has led to anatomical and physiological diversity in the group. I also maintain active research interests in Selaginella systematics, desiccation tolerance, genome size evolution, and conservation biology.

I am interested in the ecology and evolution of mutualisms. Among other things I study mechanisms that promote cooperation and prevent cheating in the mutualism between fig trees and their pollinating wasps.

I’m broadly interested in the evolution of plant morphology and function, especially in climatically extreme environments. I take a whole-plant perspective, applying data from ecophysiology, morphology, and niche-modelling approaches to try to understand how evolutionary change is integrated at the level of the organism. I’m particularly interested in the question of why some plant lineages show extensive morphological and ecological lability, while others seem to stick with the tried-and-true. My current project looks at trait evolution and community assembly in high-altitude environments of the Andes mountains.