February 12, 2020

12:00 The Hershey Hall Grand Salon, Room 158, Hershey Hall

Elsa Cleland

" The importance of seasonal timing for preserving California's native flora in the face of climate change and invasion "

Phenology is the study of seasonal timing in organisms, variation in phenology reflects ecological and evolutionary differences among organisms, and also contributes to species co-existence in diverse communities. Phenology is also a key trait predicting species responses to global change: accelerated phenology is associated with climate change in many areas, and here in California invasive plants appear to benefit from having early-season phenology. This seminar will summarize experimental work from my lab showing that phenological sensitivity to rising temperatures predicts species performance in a warming world, and that phenology predicts competitive outcomes between native and invasive species. Finally, I’ll address the biotic and abiotic factors that can act to constrain adaptation of seemingly favorable phenological strategies.

Host: Nathan Kraft