I am a graduate student at Washington University working in the lab of Dr. Peter Hoch at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and I spend much of my time contemplating the same questions that drive research in the Damschen Lab. I am broadly interested in the factors that influence species distributions and interspecific interactions, particularly in light of current anthropogenic activities.

My dissertation research explores the relationship between adaptation to stressful environments and reproductive biology, including attractiveness to pollinators, and how this trade-off may influence their responses to regional warming. The principle of limited similarity has been used to explain the restriction of many endemics to or from a given habitat via competitive exclusion. Historically, competition has been conceptualized in the context of abiotic resources, such as light, nitrogen, or space. However, plant species are also known to compete for pollinators, and reproductive theory predicts a trade-off between survival and reproductive output, which could affect their ability to competitive for pollinators. My dissertation research addresses three main questions:

1. What is the interaction between stress adaptation and reproductive biology of plant endemics?
2. Does a stress-reproduction tradeoff affect the competitive ability of endemics and their widespread congeners for pollinators in high vs. low stress environments?
3. How do stress-adapted and non-stress-adapted species respond differently to long-term regional warming?

I am addressing these questions in the Ozark glades of Missouri and Arkansas, because they are very stressful (i.e., hot and dry), spatially-restricted habitats that are isolated within a matrix of oak-hickory forest. They also contain several endemic plant species, including the three with which I work (Delphinium treleasei, Echinacea paradoxa, and Scutellaria bushii). Glades have received much attention for their unique species, but there is little consensus about the relative importance of different mechanisms that lead to narrow ranges in endemic glade species.

Outside of my dissertation, I am working on projects that explore the influence of climate change, both primary (i.e., chemical) and secondary (i.e., climatic), on plant-pollinator interactions and interspecific competition with collaborators at Washington University and the University of Minnesota.