Population structure and hybridization under contemporary and future climates in a heteroploid foundational shrub species ().

Current and past climatic changes can shift plant climatic niches, which may cause spatial overlap or separation between related taxa. The former often leads to hybridization and introgression, which may generate novel variation and influence the adaptive capacity of plants. An additional mechanism facilitating adaptations to novel environments and an important evolutionary driver in plants is polyploidy as the result of whole genome duplication.

Subspecies differentiation and range-wide genetic structure are driven by climate in the California gnatcatcher, a flagship species for coastal sage scrub conservation.

Understanding genetic structure and diversity within species can uncover associations with environmental and geographic attributes that highlight adaptive potential and inform conservation and management. The California gnatcatcher, , is a small songbird found in desert and coastal scrub habitats from the southern end of Baja California Sur to Ventura County, California. Lack of congruence among morphological subspecies hypotheses and lack of measurable genetic structure found in a few genetic markers led to questions about the validity of subspecies within and the listing status of the coastal California gnatcatcher, .

The Genetic Basis of Upland/Lowland Ecotype Divergence in Switchgrass (.

The evolution of locally adapted ecotypes is a common phenomenon that generates diversity within plant species. However, we know surprisingly little about the genetic mechanisms underlying the locally adapted traits involved in ecotype formation. The genetic architecture underlying locally adapted traits dictates how an organism will respond to environmental selection pressures, and has major implications for evolutionary ecology, conservation, and crop breeding.

Adaptive differentiation in floral traits in the presence of high gene flow in scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata).

Plant-pollinator interactions are thought to be major drivers of floral trait diversity. However, the relative importance of divergent pollinator-mediated selection vs. neutral processes in floral character evolution has rarely been explored.