Author: lou7ee3

Lex and Adam, two undergraduate researchers in the lab, were chosen to receive research awards from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program at UMN. Lex is working with John on a resurrection experiment to test whether adaptation occurred in C. xantiana populations during the California megadrought. Adam is working with Amanda to quantify differentiation among common … Continue reading Lex and Adam awarded UROPs for their independent research!

Our demographic work on Clarkia xantiana was incorporated into a paper with European colleagues who conducted similar research on Plantago coronopus. The paper (in press, Ecography) examines the "demographic niche", where the environmental requirements of individual life stages (vital rates) are dissected in an effort to understand the dynamics of geographic ranges.

Ryan Briscoe Runquist was awarded the College of Biological Sciences postdoc award for "Outreach & Communication", which recognizes her leadership and contributions to Market Science and other activities communicating science to K-6 teachers, students, and the public. This is one of only four awards given by the college this year!

Lauren Sullivan was awarded the College of Biological Sciences postdoc award for "Impactful Research", which recognizes her many research accomplishments including recent high-profile publications and lead role on a funded LCCMR grant. This is one of only four awards given by the college this year!

John Benning was interviewed for, and quoted in, the MNDaily about his recently awarded NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant. The article focuses on the elimination of the DDIG program and the consequences for graduate students in biology.

Lana is one of 13 undergraduates recognized by the Botanical Society of America with the Young Botanist Award. The award recognizes outstanding graduating seniors in the plant sciences. Lana will begin a Ph.D. program at Michigan State in the Fall in Jen Lau's lab!

Lana Bolin, an undergraduate in the lab, was chosen to receive the Philip C. Hamm Memorial Scholarship in the Plant Sciences for undergraduates. The scholarship encourages and rewards undergraduate students who show promise and interest in becoming research plant scientists. Congrats Lana!

John's proposal, "Biotic interactions and the geographic range limit of Clarkia xantiana across a complex environmental gradient" examines the interplay of plant-microbe interactions and plant-consumer interactions and their role in setting the range limit of C. xantiana.

The lab is collaborating with Allison Shaw and Lauren Sullivan (EEB) on a new project that quantifies the seed and pollen dispersal kernals of several prairie plant species using next-gen sequencing and paternity analysis, and incorporates this information into models of dispersal in fragmented landscapes. Check out the article here!

Amanda Gorton was chosen to receive an Alexander and Lydia Anderson research grant from UMN! This grant supports graduate student summer research in the plant and animal sciences. Congrats Amanda!