Professional Interests:

My main research goal is to understand how ecological and evolutionary factors shape the great variety of reproductive systems possessed by flowering plants. In the past I have used both field experiments and laboratory genetic analyses to test hypotheses about patterns of sex allocation in lilies and about the factors controlling hybrid zone structure in Louisiana irises. Currently I am collaborating with Dr. Amy Verhoeven at UST and Dr. Susan Mazer at the University of California Santa Barbara on a five-year, NSF funded project to study the joint evolution of mating systems, life-history strategies, and drought physiology in the Californian genus Clarkia. I am also working on the evolution of reproductive allocation and gamete packaging strategies in prairie larkspur Delphinium virescens in Minnesota.