
The role of plasticity in adaptation to climate change
I am fascinated by the ability of plants to respond to their environment and to adapt to stressful environments. In this project, I am investigating the role of phenotypic plasticity in adpatation to climate change by incorporating within and between population variation in plasticity, selection gradients for plasticity, and quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis to start to uncover the genetic architecture of plasticity for multiple traits. This project is composed of chamber common gardens where I grow native genotypes and recombinant inbred lines of A. thaliana in simulated current and future environments while measuring a suite of traits related to phenology, drought response, and fitness. I aim to answer three main questions:
1. Is there population differentiation for plasticity? (so far, yes for some traits but not others)
2. Do more plastic genotypes have higher fitness in the future environment? And are these genotypes native lines or recombinant inbred lines?
3. Are QTL underlying drought response traits and fitness similar in the current and future environments? Can we identify QTL for plasticity?
The results from this project will increase our knowledge of adaptive plasticity and the genetic loci underlying plasticity. They will also be applicable in understanding the effect of assisted migration and predicting population presistence to changing climates. To grow enough plants, this project required growing and phenotyping ~3,500 plants over four blocks. The final growing season was completed in May 2025! I am very thankful to the undergraduate researchers who made this project possible and am excited for results to come soon.
Check out the work I've presented thus far on this project:
Evolution 2022 Poster - pilot study results
Evolution 2023 Poster - first results from RILs
I am presenting results on leaf number plasticity at Evolution 2025 on June 22, 2025.