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Please note: this seminar has been cancelled.

Climate change threatens biodiversity, with many animals thought to be at risk of extinction. Global change will also alter the distribution and abundance of species of direct concern to human health and food security, such as disease vectors and agricultural pests. The extent to which evolution and phenotypic plasticity might mediate species responses to climate change remains largely unknown.

We have used a combination of experimental evolution and environmental manipulations to address this gap in our understanding.  In particular, I will discuss how we have used intra- and inter-specific studies to understand the physiological and evolutionary processes that limit, and enable, adaptive responses to rapid environmental change.  I will end with some thoughts on how these findings can inform conservation and biodiversity management decisions.

Biography

I am an evolutionary biologist, interested in understanding the genetic basis of adaptation to environmental change. I am also interested in exploring how evolutionary processes can be explicitly incorporated into biodiversity conservation and management. I use a combination of techniques including clinal (field) studies of phenotypic divergence, experimental evolution, quantitative genetics and genomics to examine how organisms adapt to changing environmental conditions. 

carlasgrolab.org

Ecology and Evolution Seminar Series