Active areas of research
Fitness consequences of thermal trait variationBecause much of what we know regarding thermal biology stems from historical studies of tropical lizards, the patterns of thermal biology in desert ecosystems are traditionally underrepresented. These organisms are already living at their physiological limits, therefore rising temperatures will likely force many populations into local extinction in the absence of an adaptive response. I have aimed to quantify the fitness consequences of variation in thermal traits across both space and time within these environments in an effort to link individual variation in thermal traits to survivorship and reproductive success. Provided these traits are somewhat heritable across generations, my goal is to quantify the likelihood of evolutionary adaptation to buffer populations from extinction events.
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Environmental influences on thermoregulatory behavior and activityDepending on the ecological context, thermoregulatory behavior is a mechanism for ectotherms to buffer themselves from extreme temepratures whilst regulating body temperature to optimize physiology. I am interested broadly in the tradeoffs in thermoregulation for maximizing different ecological activities, as well as the costs of extensive use of this behavior in extreme thermal environments. I integrate behavior closely with physiology to quantify just how adaptive thermoregulation is within the context of climate change, while developing useful models to predict how extensive thermoregulatory behavior is a function of both an organism's ecology and it's physiology.
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Phenotypic plasticity and the response to global changeA debate that is far from settled: how can phenotypic plasticity buffer species from climate change? There are data which support both the benefits and the inability of plasticity to buffer populations and species from climate change. My work has quantified plasticity in thermal traits attributable to a multitude of ecological factors, and I am now actively working to quantify the strength of plasticity on multiple spatial and temporal scales. I am specifically aiming to quantify how much thermal trait variation can be attributable plasticity, and how this plasticity-induced trait variation can lead to carry-over effects in terms of the selective pressures imposed on these traits, and the spatial and temporal distribution of populations and individuals.
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