The integrative nature of biodiversity: thinking holistically about plant form and function
Plant Biology Seminar Series

Co-sponsored by the Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics

Abstract:
As the global climate crisis continues, predictions concerning how wild populations will respond to changing climate conditions are informed by an understanding of how populations have responded and/or adapted to climate variables in the past. Changes in the local biotic and abiotic environment can drive differences in phenology, physiology, morphology and demography between populations leading to local adaptation, yet the molecular basis of adaptive evolution in wild non-model organisms is poorly understood. In this talk I will tell two stories: one in which we leverage comparisons between two lineages of Calochortus venustus occurring along parallel transects that allow us to identify loci under selection and measure clinal variation in allele frequencies as evidence of population-specific responses to selection along climatic gradients. We identify targets of selection by distinguishing loci that are outliers to population structure and by using genotype–environment associations across transects to detect loci under selection from each of nine climatic variables. The second story involves our research focused on understanding the ecological and environmental drivers of speciation and diversification in the "Mexican Clade" of Calochortus, a lineage comprising 16 species endemic to the Sierra Madres and Transverse mountain ranges of Mexico. Together these stories demonstrate how morphologic and climatic variables interact to generate the evolutionary capacity required for local adaptation.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Chelsea Specht is the Barbara McClintock Professor of Plant Biology at Cornell University. She is also a member of the L.H. Bailey Hortorium and is leading a new Biodiversity Initiative at Cornell University (BioICU) that is driving innovations in basic and applied biodiversity research.

Chelsea received her undergrad in Biology from the University of Delaware (1993) and her MS and PhD in Biology from New York University as part of a joint program with the New York Botanical Garden and the American Museum of Natural History. During her PhD studies she received a Fulbright to study in Bolivia where she lived from 1997-2001, collecting material for her dissertation studies while also developing initiatives in conservation biology as a volunteer with the local conservation organization Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza and as Program Officer and Ecoregional Coordinator with the World Wildlife Fund’s Latin American and Caribbean Program. Upon completing her PhD (2004), Chelsea continued her systematic and evolutionary studies for 1 year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, studying Zingiberales and in particular the families Costaceae and Heliconiaceae. In 2005, she started a faculty position at the University of California, Berkeley where her lab focused on investigating the evolutionary patterns and developmental processes involved in a diversity of plant traits including flower development in Zingiberales, thermogenesis in cycads, and carnivory in the Caryophyllales. In 2017 she moved to Cornell University where her research group continues to use traditional morphological and developmental techniques combined with molecular genetics, population genetics, comparative genomics and phylogenetics to study the natural diversity of plants and to help understand the forces creating and sustaining this diversity. Her collections-based, student-centered research program has been funded by the National Science Foundation since 2001 and includes an NSF CAREER award as well various collaborative awards with a diverse cohort of researchers nationally and internationally.

Dr. Specht has an active lab with 4 graduate students, 2 postdocs, 1 research associate, and 5 undergraduates, all of whom engage in innovative research and demonstrate inclusive excellence through their scholarship, lived experiences, and commitments to fostering a diverse and inclusive academia.

Contact

  Jill Hamilton
  jvh6349@psu.edu