Research in the Zettlemoyer Lab examines the ecological and evolutionary responses to global change across biological scales, including variation among individuals, population persistence, and macroecological patterns of extinction and spread. By integrating population demography with manipulative experiments, trait-based analyses, and natural history, we aim to explore how phenotypic plasticity, local adaptation, and species interactions affect population persistence under multiple, interacting environmental changes.
PROJECTS
How does phenotypic plasticity affect population dynamics and species success?
Although rising temperatures have dramatically advanced the phenology of many species, we still have limited evidence of whether variation in phenological responses influences population dynamics or macroecological patterns of invasion, extinction, or range shifts.
Although rising temperatures have dramatically advanced the phenology of many species, we still have limited evidence of whether variation in phenological responses influences population dynamics or macroecological patterns of invasion, extinction, or range shifts.
The relative roles of climate, biotic interactions, and phenology in population persistence
We are using a natural gradient of snowmelt timing and pollination experiments to examine the relative roles of climate, phenology, and pollinators in population persistence in a suite of co-flowering alpine cushion plants. This work will quantify selection on phenology and test the potential for phenology to maintain or rescue populations experiencing rapid climate change. This work is in collaboration with Dr. Megan DeMarche at the University of Georgia and is conducted at the Niwot Ridge LTER and Mountain Research Station at UC Boulder.
We are using a natural gradient of snowmelt timing and pollination experiments to examine the relative roles of climate, phenology, and pollinators in population persistence in a suite of co-flowering alpine cushion plants. This work will quantify selection on phenology and test the potential for phenology to maintain or rescue populations experiencing rapid climate change. This work is in collaboration with Dr. Megan DeMarche at the University of Georgia and is conducted at the Niwot Ridge LTER and Mountain Research Station at UC Boulder.
The role of phenology in species spread across landscapes
Phenology likely mediates species-level responses to climate change, including macroecological patterns of extinction, invasion, and range shifts. Using a combination of experimental warming and historical records, we are investigating how phenological differences between native and invasive species may influence invasion outcomes under global warming as well as whether phenology can be a determinant of extinction risk under climate change.
Phenology likely mediates species-level responses to climate change, including macroecological patterns of extinction, invasion, and range shifts. Using a combination of experimental warming and historical records, we are investigating how phenological differences between native and invasive species may influence invasion outcomes under global warming as well as whether phenology can be a determinant of extinction risk under climate change.
How does local adaptation influence species abundance and distribution in a changing world?
We are examining whether population differentiation in climate responses affects range-wide population dynamics in two long-lived alpine species, Silene acaulis and Bistorta vivipara. We are combining a long-term demographic and environmental dataset with common garden transplants and controlled thermal performance experiments to test for local adaptation and identify the demographic mechanisms underlying it. This work is in collaboration with Drs. Megan DeMarche (University of Georgia), Dan Doak (University of Colorado Boulder), and Bill Morris (Duke University).
We are examining whether population differentiation in climate responses affects range-wide population dynamics in two long-lived alpine species, Silene acaulis and Bistorta vivipara. We are combining a long-term demographic and environmental dataset with common garden transplants and controlled thermal performance experiments to test for local adaptation and identify the demographic mechanisms underlying it. This work is in collaboration with Drs. Megan DeMarche (University of Georgia), Dan Doak (University of Colorado Boulder), and Bill Morris (Duke University).
How do condensing wildfire intervals affect plant diversity?
In collaboration with the Missoula Fire Science Lab (USFS), we are developing a new project aimed at examining how increasing frequency of high severity wildfire affects stand structure and microsite conditions and subsequent impacts on plant demography and diversity. More details to come!
In collaboration with the Missoula Fire Science Lab (USFS), we are developing a new project aimed at examining how increasing frequency of high severity wildfire affects stand structure and microsite conditions and subsequent impacts on plant demography and diversity. More details to come!
How do trait variability and species interactions influence extinction risk under multiple global changes?
Population demography of locally extinct and extant species under interacting anthropogenic changes
Demographic studies that experimentally manipulate multiple anthropogenic
changes can partition individual and non-additive effects of interacting stressors, permitting more mechanistic explanations of species loss. I partnered with local landowners to develop large-scale field experiments simulating two major drivers of species loss in grasslands (nitrogen fertilization and deer herbivory) and resurrected populations of extirpated prairie species. Nitrogen reduces survival, especially in extirpated species, but reduces population growth rates across species. By comparing phylogenetically paired extirpated and extant species, this work uncovered the environmental drivers and vital rates associated with local extinction events and links community-level patterns of diversity loss under nitrogen addition to the demographic processes underlying those losses.
How do shifting species interactions under global change influence extirpation?
Anthropogenic change threatens biodiversity, but its effects on populations can be direct or via altered ecological interactions. Working with undergraduate researchers, I examined how three species interactions differ in extirpated vs. extant taxa under anthropogenic change: herbivory across a nitrogen gradient, seed predation in prairie restorations, and plant-soil feedbacks under warming.
This research is conducted on the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Bodwéwadmi (Potawatomi) (Peoria; Kalamazoo, MI) and Tséstho’e (Cheyenne; Niwot, CO) peoples.
Demographic studies that experimentally manipulate multiple anthropogenic
changes can partition individual and non-additive effects of interacting stressors, permitting more mechanistic explanations of species loss. I partnered with local landowners to develop large-scale field experiments simulating two major drivers of species loss in grasslands (nitrogen fertilization and deer herbivory) and resurrected populations of extirpated prairie species. Nitrogen reduces survival, especially in extirpated species, but reduces population growth rates across species. By comparing phylogenetically paired extirpated and extant species, this work uncovered the environmental drivers and vital rates associated with local extinction events and links community-level patterns of diversity loss under nitrogen addition to the demographic processes underlying those losses.
How do shifting species interactions under global change influence extirpation?
Anthropogenic change threatens biodiversity, but its effects on populations can be direct or via altered ecological interactions. Working with undergraduate researchers, I examined how three species interactions differ in extirpated vs. extant taxa under anthropogenic change: herbivory across a nitrogen gradient, seed predation in prairie restorations, and plant-soil feedbacks under warming.
This research is conducted on the ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Bodwéwadmi (Potawatomi) (Peoria; Kalamazoo, MI) and Tséstho’e (Cheyenne; Niwot, CO) peoples.