Researchers

I am a plant ecologist that is interested in species distribution patterns, specifically with adaptive radiations of closely related lineages. My current research involves studying mechanisms of adaptive speciation among desert shrubs. The genus Encelia is an ideal system for these studies, as all species are interfertile and exhibit a wide variety of leaf traits and habitat affinities. For the past three years I have been conducting reciprocal transplant experiments with two species, Encelia palmeri and Encelia ventorum, and their hybrids at a coastal sand dune system in Baja California Sur, Mexico near the village of Bahia Asuncion. I am currently expanding these investigations to other hybrid zones between other species in the genus, as well as conducting a number of exploratory studies in Mexico and the United States aimed at elucidating patterns of adaptive divergence in the hot deserts of southwest U.S. and northeast Mexico.