Researchers

I have long been interested in botany, plant evolution, plant morphological diversity. I am especially intrigued by questions about the natural history and evolutionary role of plant morphological traits involved in plant-animal interactions, such as ant-plant mutualism and pollinator-plant interactions. How is the diversity of such traits characterized? How and why did such diversity evolve? How did they adapt to changing environmental conditions, like aridification? My research focuses on extrafloral nectaries (that offer nectar to ants that in return protect the plant from herbivorous insect), and I address my research questions at broad taxonomic scales, considering a phylogenetic framework, and at the community level as well, including arid lands such as the Sonoran Desert.