Research

My research program addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing scientists today: How to accurately predict species’ responses to environmental change. My work focuses on uncovering the fundamental causes and consequences of variation in ecophysiological traits that are key to coping with environmental change and combining these results with population-level processes to predict population responses to environmental change. I employ a broad scientific toolkit, working across subdisciplines and combining field work, lab experiments, and computational analyses to gain a deeper understanding of physiological evolution and vulnerability to global change.

​Below, I highlight two major research areas exploring how environmental variation shapes phenotypes and, in turn, influences population-level processes.

Fundamental causes and consequences of variation in ecophysiological traits

Eco-evolutionary drivers of physiology.
While plasticity and adaptation can both lead to beneficial trait changes for a population, they are each limited in some way. For example, plastic responses are rapid but may degrade over time, while evolved responses (sensu genetic changes) lead to changes in trait averages for the population but may take many generations to realize. My work aims to generate a predictive understanding of how plasticity and adaptive evolution shape variation in thermal physiological traits.
Example studies:
  • Populations of two tailed frog species (A. montanus and A. truei) vary in baseline physiological heat tolerance (i.e., evolved heat tolerance), but despite occupying similar thermal environments, evolved heat tolerance only varied predictably with maximum habitat temperatures among populations of one species. 
  • Within the species lacking predictable heat tolerance, variation in plasticity of heat tolerance varied predictably with local thermal habitats - but only when both temporal and spatial variability in temperature are considered.
  • These studies demonstrate that similar environments can produce different evolutionary outcomes for the same trait. 
Picture
Photo by B Forester. Adult coastal tailed frog in Oregon.
Linking the effects of temperature-dependent organismal physiology to population-level outcomes.
Environmental temperatures dictate ectotherm physiology, including many key biological processes such as metabolism and growth. Despite its pervasive effects, we still do not know the extent to which temperature-dependent physiological traits that are measured at  the organismal level scale to impact population-level outcomes. My work aims to bridge this gap by using a combination of ecological, physiological, and genomic approaches.
Example studies:
  • Organismal heat tolerance explains population-level mortality from subcritical thermal stress in Rocky Mountain tailed frogs. 
  • Temperature and humidity mediate the physiological cost (desiccation) of arboreal calling behavior among spring peepers in Canada and the USA - explaining observations of arboreal calling in southern latitudes, with potential consequences for reproductive isolation between genetic lineages currently in secondary contact.
  • Ongoing: I am co-leading a Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution working group focused on connecting organismal thermal performance metrics to population-level demographics.
Picture
Photo by N Cairns. Male spring peeper calling in Ontario.

Predicting ectotherm vulnerability across biological scales

Predicting how populations of species will respond to changes in their environment is a major goal for conservation biologists. My work focuses on incorporating intraspecific variation in physiological traits into vulnerability assessments by focusing on different components of Adaptive Capacity - the ability for a population to respond to changing environments through plasticity, adaptation, and/or movement. 

Example studies:
  • Population variation in thermal tolerance plasticity contributes to predicted risk from warming temperatures. 
  • Using population genomic and physiological approaches to uncover local adaptation among tailed frog populations. We found that one approach alone did not lead to the same conclusions about relative population risk from warming, underscoring the need for multiple lines of evidence when forecasting vulnerability.
Picture
Rapid Responses to Wildfire. 
Wildfires are becoming more frequent and more severe, exposing organisms to extreme environmental changes. I am working to understand the lasting impact of wildfires on populations by investigating the immediate and long-term impacts of the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire on tailed frog populations. I am combining environmental, physiological, and genomic data from populations before and after the fire to understand if and how these populations responded. I am then integrating these results into CDMetaPOP, a landscape genetic simulation program, to generate predictions about the capacity for fire-affected populations to respond to wildfires in the future. 

 Amphibian Ecology & Evolution
Amphibians are a diverse group of species that are sensitive to their external environment. One of the goals of my research focuses on investigating and understanding the diversity of traits within this group as they relate to their local environments. 

Some of the completed and ongoing studies that contribute to this project: 
  • Drivers of oral morphology of tailed frog tadpoles. Publications
  • Patterns in size and development of tadpoles along elevation gradients.
  • Behavioral plasticity of male calling behavior in spring peepers. Publications
  • The role of call variation on reproductive isolation in spring peepers. Publications
  • Thermal tolerance of Giant coastal salamanders. 
My research is generously supported by:

Natural Science & Engineering Council of Canada
National Science Foundation
Centre for Ecosystem Management, University of Guelph
Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution
Joint Fire Science Program
Graduate Degree Program in Ecology
Society for the Study of Evolution
PRSE, Colorado State University
American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology
J Allen Keast Lake Opinicon Fellowship​​