Date

November 22, 2024

Time

12:20 pm

Location

RW432 & Livestream

Appraisal Seminar: Louisa Bartkovich
Host/s: M. Bontrager

Abstract:
The timing of important life-history traits, known as phenology, can impact plant fitness, enabling synchronization with beneficial mutualists and favorable abiotic environments, while possibly avoiding pathogens and herbivores. In my thesis, I will use a combination of greenhouse, growth chamber, and field experiments to investigate the processes shaping phenology in the wildflower annual Clarkia pulchella and the spring ephemeral Erythronium americanum. In my proposed work on C. pulchella, I will characterize how populations within a widely-distributed species can adapt to different climates through early growth and flowering strategies. This work will enhance our understanding of how local adaptation, plasticity, and selection underlie phenological variation, and their potential impacts on species’ persistence in changing environments. Rapid environmental change threatens plant species both directly and indirectly, with understory plants facing additional risks if their life cycles fall out of sync with the leaf emergence of canopy trees. My fourth chapter focuses on the spring ephemeral E. americanum, examining how shifts in spring light availability––driven by changes in canopy and snowmelt changes––may alter selection on flowering time. These findings could inform conservation management practices, which may include canopy thinning or controlled relocation of understory species, to ensure adequate light during critical growth periods.