University of Georgia Department of Plant Biology

My research focuses on 1) the impact of landscape level disturbance and habitat fragmentation on the evolutionary trajectories of plant species, particularly neotropical orchids and epiphytes and 2) phylogeographic analyses for the purpose of identifying ancient refugia associated with Pleistocene glacial maxima and subsequent expansion zones of plant taxa in response to global warming.

Our lab employs population genetic tools to develop an understanding of the evolutionary factors that shape patterns of genetic variation in natural plant populations and the manner in which species-wide variation is partitioned and maintained. This is of particular interest in the context of increasingly fragmented landscapes and the ubiquitous nature of human induced habitat disturbance as well as global climate change.