Predicting how life will respond to climate change today requires understanding how life changed with climate in the past. Biological change ultimately reflects evolution. My research in evolutionary biology examines how key plant traits change with climate.
Specialized fungi form a biological marketplace inside most roots called mycorrhizae where the fungus exchanges key soil nutrients for plant sugars so effectively that they influence global exchanges between land, sea and air. I use comparative methods to examine how mycorrhizal associations evolve and the consequences for habitats.
Plant population responses to environmental change depend on when and how they reproduce. I collaborate with colleagues to examine how alternative life histories have evolved among related plants and the consequences for conservation.