Event Category

Exit Seminar

Date

May 7, 2026

Time

1:00 pm

Location

Ramsay Wright Laboratories, RW 432 & online

Mutualisms are ubiquitous in nature and influence ecological and evolutionary processes at multiple scales. However, the extent to which generalized, facultative mutualisms shape patterns from species interactions to macroecological and macroevolutionary processes remains unclear. This thesis investigates the ecology and evolution of generalized ant-plant mutualisms mediated by extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), using a combination of global analyses, field studies, common garden experiments, and computational modelling.  

Findings suggest that generalized mutualisms can affect ecological and evolutionary processes across scales, from facilitating range expansion and invasion dynamics to structuring latitudinal variation, displaying both plastic and heritable variation that responds to selection, and exhibiting correlated evolution with other mutualisms. Future work should integrate plant-animal mutualisms into invasion predictions and sustainable biological control methods in agricultural systems and explicitly consider the role of multiple mutualisms across ecological and macroevolutionary scales.