Sophie Buysse

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 be applicable in understanding the effect of assisted migration and improving crops for climate resiliency. To grow enough plants, this project requires growing and phenotyping ~3,500 plants over four time periods. The final growing season will be complete in May 2025!

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

Constraint of Trait Loss

Traits are maintained through a balance of genetic drift and selection. When traits have no impact on fitness, we generally expect them to be lost through drift or selection against the trait. In this project, I am investigating the roles of genetic drift and selection in short stamen loss in A. thaliana. Previous evidence shows that short stamens do not contribute to fitness in A. thaliana, but they have nonetheless been retained. I am investigated why using populations along an elevation gradient in the Spanish Pyrenees. I also use genome wide association studies to look for loci associated with short stamen number.

You can find my preprint here.

Teaching as research

As a Future Academic Scholar in Teaching at MSU, I designed and implemented a teaching-as-research project that used a modelling activity in an introductory biology lab to emphasize to students that science and society are connected. A common goal of introductory biology labs is to increase student science literacy. My project focused on the important question: how do models influence how students understsand the connections between science and society? Students took science literacy surveys at the beginning and end of the semester, and half of the students completed a modelling activity during the semester. Ultimately, I found that there was no increase in science literacy for students, whether they completed the modelling activity or not. These results indicate the important role of assessing science literacy and adjusting our instruction to make sure we accomplish our teaching goals.

You can find out more about this project under Competency 5 in my Certificate In College Teaching.

Mentoring

My approach to mentoring is that each student has individualized needs as a mentee; my role is to teach mentees the skills they need to design effective experiments while increasing confidence in their problem solving and critical thinking skills.

Mentored students with independent projects include: Basia Love (MSU Undergrad, 2024-2025), Evan Adamski (MSU Undergrad, Spring 2024), Athena Dila (Plant Genomics REU student, 2023), Tori Nicholes (KBS REU student, 2022 - pictured with her poster), and Trevor Markwood (MSU Undergrad, 2022-2023). I also mentor additional students who assist with my research projects but do not have independent projects and interact with other Josephs Lab undergraduates.