Horticulture & Related FieldsAnnabel Lewis

Evolution of Resource Allocation Trade-offs Across the Range of Chamaecrista fasciculata

Limited available resources to allocate toward growth, reproduction, and defense lead to inherent trade-offs within organisms.1 Understanding how traits associated with growth, reproduction, and defense are related to fitness across environmental gradients that span a species’ range is vital to understand how such allocation trade-offs have evolved.2 My research using experimental common garden experiments spanning a gradient of resource availability and herbivore pressure will 1) evaluate the evolution of life history trade-offs among populations spanning the full geographic range of my focal species; 2) assess the fitness consequences of these evolved trade-offs in contrasting climates; and 3) test whether elevated temperatures lead to plastic shifts in allocation to growth, reproduction, and defense.

School: North Carolina State University