Current lab members
Chris Eckert (He/Him)
Raised in the biodiversity hotspot of downtown Toronto, I got hooked on evolutionary ecology during my undergrad in zoology at Western University. Working as an itinerate field biologist for a few years, an MSc in behavioural ecology with Pat Weatherhead at Carleton U, a stint as an environmental educator, and a PhD in evolutionary botany with Spencer Barrett at U of Toronto took me to Queen’s U where my students and I investigate adaptation, with a particular focus on reproductive systems and species’ range limits.
chris.eckert[at]queensu.ca
Chloë Dean-Moore (She/Her)
I’m a MSc. student interested in plant ecology and evolution. I completed my BSc. in biology at Queen’s University and did my honours thesis on selection on floral morphology in red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). After my undergrad, I spent the summer studying the frequency of cyanogenesis in white clover (trifolium repens) along an elevational cline in the Canadian Rockies. For my master’s research, I’m studying the consequences of sexual reproduction in the invasive aquatic plant flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus). When I’m not in the lab or greenhouse, I love to spend my time baking, camping and running.
c.deanmoore[at]queensu.ca
Graydon Gillies (He/Him)
I’m an MSc student interested in the biogeography and spatial dynamics of plant ecology. I completed my BSc. in Environmental Sciences at the University of British Columbia, where I worked with Dr. Amy Angert and Dr. Rachel Germain and studied the population dynamics of Lemna minor (common duckweed) and Bromus hordeaceus (soft brome). Currently, I am studying the population dynamics of Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia (beach evening primrose) at the species’ range limit. I spent this past summer in Oregon and California, traversing the coastal sand dunes and performing an enormous geographic survey spanning 900 km along the coast. I’m currently using this data to explore how metapopulation dynamics and environmental variables work to enforce the species’ range limit in southern Oregon. When I’m not in the field or running R code, I’m probably at the climbing gym, playing board games, or on a hike.
g.gillies[at]queensu.ca
Ghazal Khonsari (She/Her)
20gk2[at]queensu.ca
Rishona Vemulapalli (She/Her)
I'm a fifth-year BSc. student in Environmental Biology interested in ecology across an urbanizing landscape. For my honours thesis, I'm exploring how human activity impacts specialized species interactions, and the effectiveness of gardens at mitigating these impacts. In the summer of 2023, I completed field surveys in Kingston and the surrounding rural areas, observing common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and its associated insect herbivores, including the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Aside from thesis, I've developed a few greenhouse skills in the Queen's Phytotron, and have enjoyed field biology at QUBS, in Quebec down to Vermont, and across northern Tanzania. When I'm not in the office, I love adventuring in the outdoors, bouldering, or doing a puzzle.
18rv6[at]queensu.ca
Lab Alumni
POST-Doctoral Fellows
Maggie Bartkowska (2016-17) – Evolutionary loss of sex in a clonal aquatic plant
Graduate Students
Regan Cross (PhD’22) – Long-term experimental analysis of ecological and evolutionary processes at a species’ range limit
Hana Thompson (MSc’22) – Genomic evidence of long-term asexuality at the northern range limit of wetland plant, Decodon verticillatus (Lythraceae)
Mike Dungey (MSc’21) – A broad scale investigation of dispersal constraints on the northern range limit of a pacific coastal dune plant
Alyson Van Natto (MSc’20) – Effects of peripherality & hybridization on range-wide genetic structure of the endangered coastal dune plant Abronia umbellata
David Ensing (PhD’19) — Evolutionary constraints: Phenology and elevational range limits in an annual plant
Dylan Sora (MSc’18) — Natural selection on phenology across an elevational gradient in seasonality
Adriana Lopez Villalobos (PhD’17) — The Genetic Structure of Species’ Geographic Ranges: An Evaluation Using the Coastal Dune Endemic Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia (Onagraceae)
Stephanie Greer (MSc’16) — Genomic Consequences of Mating System Evolution in the Pacific Coastal Dune Endemic, Abronia umbellata (Nyctaginaceae)
Anna Hargreaves (PhD’14) — Evolutionary Ecology of Range Limits: Conceptual Syntheses and Empirical Tests
Sara Dart (PhD’13) — Evolution of floral and mating system variation in Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia (Onagraceae): An evaluation of patterns and processes
Laura Doubleday (MSc’12) — Evolution of floral display fragrance during a shift from outcrossing to selfing
Karen Samis (PhD’07) — Evolution of species’ range limits
Jessica Montague (MSc’05)– Local adaptation during biological invasion in purple loosestrife
Jill Hamilton (MSc’05) — Phylogeography and conservation genetics of plants on threatened Alvar habitat
Chris Herlihy (PhD’04) — Reproductive assurance and the evolution of self-fertilization
Sarah Yakimowski (MSc’04) — A geographical perspective on factors threatening species at risk
Agnes Kliber (MSc’03) — Genetics of biological invasion by flowering rush
Faye Thompson (MSc’02) — The loss of sex in flowering rush
Keiko Lui (MSc’01) — Genetic causes and consequences of sexual variation in introduced populations of flowering rush
Katherine Mavraganis (MSc’98) — Reproductive ecology and population biology of Aquilegia canadensis
Marcel Dorken (MSc’98) — The loss of sex in a clonal plant, Decodon verticillatus
Lisa O’Connell (MSc’97) — Evolutionary differentiation in sexuality and life history in Antennaria parlinii
Undergraduate Thesis Students
Emma Bacon (BSc’ 23) – Are high elevation habitats a refuge from biological control for invasive spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe)?
Kaitlyn Dawson (BSc’ 23) – Viral-induced flower colour change reveals that turnip mosaic virus increases with stand size and human disturbance in Hesperis matronalis
Krista Williamson (BSc’ 23) – A hair out of place: Understanding the maintenance of a trichome polymorphism in Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia
Lauryn Joslin (BSc’22) – Light flowered morphs have a larger proportion of seeds escaping predation in eastern Ontario populations of Hesperis matronalis that are heavily impacted by a pre-dispersal seed predator
Katie Maunder (BSc’22) – Colonization reduces the diversity of an ecologically important trait in introduced Hesperis matronalis
Caroline Tang (BSc’22) – A comparison of climatic variation in flower colour in the mustard Hesperis matronalis in its native and introduced ranges
Chloë Dean-Moore (BSc’21) – Selection on floral morphology and plant size in Aquilegia canadensis
Jackie Grubel (BSc’21)
Lindsey Marck (BSc’20) – Variation in opportunities for introgression across the geographic range of a coastal dune plant
Elyse Muir (BSc’20) – A multi-scale investigation of the effects of the invasive dune grass, Ammophila arenaria on Pacific coastal dune flora
Hana Thompson (BSc’19) — Comparison of island and mainland populations of a coastal dune plant, Abronia umbellata (Nyctaginaceae)
Jory Griffith (BSc’19) — Is within-individual variation in progeny dispersal a bet-hedging strategy against habitat heterogeneity?
Maria Mentiady (BSc’18) — Effects of Hybridization on Morphology of Coastal Dune Species Abronia umbellata
Sara Bocchinfuso (BSc’17) — Variation in beneficial host availability and performance of hemi-parasite Rhinanthus minor across and above its elevational range
Sydney Rotman (BSc’17) — Risk-based reproductive allocation across an elevational gradient in seasonality
Jason Verbeek (BSc’16) — Variation in offspring size towards the high elevational range limit of a montane annual
Bonnie Syme (BSc’16) — Investigating the ecological niche of Rhinanthus minor across its elevational range
Corrina Thomsen (BSc’16) — Are sexual traits vestigialized in asexual populations of a clonal plant, Decodon verticillatus (Lythraceae)?
Rachel Wilson (BSc’14) — Dispersal evolution from the elevational range center to the upper range limit of prairie smoke (Geum triflorum)
Lindsay Falk (BSc’13) — The intensity and effects of insect leaf herbivory on Rhinanthus minor across its elevational range
John Viengkone (BSc’13) — A test of whether local genetic stocks yield better restored populations in a Pacific coastal dune endemic plant
Jenn Weiner (BSc’11) — The role of pollination in the altitudinal range limits of montane plants
Sara Lynskey (BSc’11) — Ecological and genetic causes of low seed set in an annual dune endemic
Angela Boag (BSc’10) — Ecology & effectiveness of biocontrol on purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
Lindsey Button (BSc’10) — Coevolution of flower colour and the mating system in Camissonia cheiranthifolia
Natalie Morrill (BSc’10) — Local adaptation to mediterranean climate in a Pacific coastal dune plant
Stephen Sagar (BSc’09) — Heirarchical variation in floral morohology and neutral genetic diversity in Aquilegia canadensis
Elizabeth Johnston (BSc’09) — Preferential allocation of resources to high quality offspring in Aquilegia canadensis
Catherine Gieysztor (BSc’09) — Ecological factors associated with an abrupt mating system shift in Abronia umbellata
Virginia Emery (BSc’08) — DNA barcoding reveals specialized floral parasitism by a new moth species
Young Chang (BSc’08) — Geographic variation in the expression of self-incompatibility in Camissonia
Jessica Wang (BSc’06) — Correlated evolution of flower morphology and life history in invasive purple loosestrife
Yona Gellert (BSc’06) — Life history differentiation and reproductive isolation between selfing and outcrossing lineages
Emily Darling (BSc’05) — Coevolution of dispersal, mating system & geographical range limits
Colleen Inglis (BSc’04) — Geographiic variation in the sexual system of Camissonia
Tracy-Lynn Reside (BSc’04) — Distribution and origin of genetic variation in sexual vs apomictic Antennaria
Emily Austen (BSc’03) — Morphometric analysis of geographical variation in floral traits in Camissonia
Eva Bruni (BSc’03) — Evolution of polyploidy in flowering rush
Jeremy Brown (BSc’03) — Adaptive evolution during biological invasion in flowering rush
Jessica Montague (BSc’02) — Role of horticulture in the spread of flowering rush: a molecular genetic analysis
Rob Ness (BSc’02) — The evolution of asexuality in Antennaria
Kelly Bronson (BSc’01) — Genetic relations between diploid and triploid flowering rush
Celine Griffin (BSc’01) — Contribution of biparental inbreeding to the mating system of columbine
Sarah Yakimowski (BSc’01) — Colonization dynamics of purple loosestrife
Mike Bhardwaj (BSc’00) — Synchronous dichogamy in Butomus umbellatus
Agnes Kliber (BSc’00) — Seasonal variation in allocation to sexual reproduction in Aquilegia canadensis
Steven Griffin (BSc’99) — The effect of experimental protogyny in Aquilegia canadensis
Barbara Ozimec (BSc’99) — Temporal variation in the mating system of Aquilegia canadensis
Matt Routley (BSc’98) — The effect of population size on the mating system of Aquilegia canadensis
Julia Thomas (BSc’98) — Sexual reproduction and genetic diversity in introduced populations of Butomus umbellatus
Kelly Gascoigne (BSc’98) — A preliminary foray into the silver maple gall community
Amy Schaefer (BSc’97) — Protogyny and reproductive assurance in Aquilegia canadensis
Blandine Massonnet (BSc’97) — Sexual reproduction in introduced populations of Butomus umbellatus
Maryl Allen (BSc’96) — Cryptic self-incompatibility in tristyous Decodon verticillatus
Cecilia Green (BSc’96) — The adaptive significance of pollen size: a comparison of self- and cross-ferilizing angiosperms
Andreka Lapchinski (BSc’96) — Mating system consequences of a novel floral phenotype in Decodon verticillatus
Tania Siemsen (BSc’96) — Not being fruitful: the mechanism of sexual sterility in Decodon verticillatus
Nina Celotti (BSc’95) — The pollen tube pathway and the obturator in hawthorn sexual reproduction
Captain Greg Grabas (BSc’95) Effect of floral variation on female reproductive success in tristylous Decodon verticillatus
Sean Griffin (BSc’95) Fluctuating asymmetry as a measure of epigenetic stress in Brassica rapa
Stacy Mitchell (BSc’94) The genetic control of sterility in clonal Decodon verticillatus
Katherine Mavraganis (BSc’94) — Evolutionary consequences of extensive morph loss in tristylous Decodon verticillatus
