Communication channels between plants and pollinators evolve and respond to changes in the environment. I am an evolutionary ecologist working to understand the causes and consequences of floral scent variation caused by pollination shifts and climate change.

I am currently conducting postdoctoral research with Diane Campbell in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. We study how natural selection and plasticity in floral morphology and scent are affected by climate change under shifting precipitation and snowmelt patterns at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory.  Our previous work showed that early snowmelt can weaken pollinator-mediated selection for larger flowers, which affects how plants adapt to climate change.

I completed my PhD at UCI in the lab of Ann Sakai and Steve Weller, where I focused on evolutionary changes in the timing and composition of floral volatiles following ecological shifts in habitat, breeding system, and pollination. We are continuing a collaborative effort to understand the adaptive radiation of a young and incredibly diverse plant genus, Schiedea, which is threatened with habitat loss throughout Hawai’i. At UNC-Chapel Hill I worked with Maria Servedio and coauthors to model the evolution of mating displays in pair-bonding birds.

Pollination in the Rockies	Scent Evolution in Hawai’i	Evolution of Mating Displays
Campbell Lab	Sakai / Weller Lab	Servedio Lab