News
Photo by Catherine Walsh (MSc 2010)
April 2024
-Chris speaks to the Guelph-Wellington Master Gardeners about her research on plant responses to pollinator decline.
-MSc student Amanda Whitehead receives a travel award to attend the 2024 Evolution meeting, where she'll be talking about her work on the effect of nutrient deposition on selection for extended floral longevity in response to pollinator decline.
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau receives travel awards to attend the 2024 CSEE and Evolution meetings, where she'll be talking about her work on the ecological consequences of evolution in response to pollinator decline.
-Chris is awarded a 5-year Discovery Grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
October 2023
-Former undergraduate thesis student Katie Brown has a paper accepted for publication in Ecology and Evolution.
-MSc student Amanda Whitehead is awarded an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.
September 2023
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau and former undergraduate thesis student Olyvia Foster have a paper accepted for publication in the International Journal of Plant Sciences.
August 2023
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau wins the Arthur Richmond Memorial Scholarship from the University of Guelph.
June 2023
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau gives a talk at the CSEE meeting.
May 2023
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau wins an award for best talk by a graduate student (Evolution category) at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau, MSc student Amanda Whitehead, and undergraduate thesis student Gurleen Chana present at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau wins the Graduate Teaching Assistant Award of Excellence from the College of Biological Science.
April 2023
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau receives an NSERC CGS-D.
-Undergraduate thesis students Gurleen Chana and Hanna Hickey receive Young Botanist Awards from the Botanical Society of America.
March 2023
-Chris travels to Montreal to give a seminar at the Montreal Botanical Garden.
January 2023
-Chris starts a 3-year term as an Associate Editor for Evolution.
November 2022
-Chris' collaborative paper demonstrating that evolvability predicts the degree of phenotypic divergence between plant populations is accepted for publication in PNAS. This manuscript was led by Øystein Opedal (Lund University).
-Former MSc student Gavin Hossack has a paper accepted for publication in the American Journal of Botany.
October 2022
-Chris becomes the first Representative in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the College of Biological Science at the University of Guelph.
July 2022
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau wins the Middleton Teaching Award for her work as a TA for Biostatistics.
June 2022
-Chris travels to Cleveland to present at the Evolution meetings.
-Incoming MSc student Amanda Whitehead is awarded a University of Guelph Graduate Tuition Scholarship.
May 2022
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau presents research by undergraduate thesis student Kayla Alipanah at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
-PhD student Jacqueline Thomson joins the lab. She is studying fungal endophytes with Jonathan Newman (who is now a VP at Wilfrid Laurier University, so Chris will be acting as her co-advisor).
-Hanna Hickey and Gurleen Chana join the lab as summer undergraduate student researchers.
March 2022
-Chris' collaborative manuscript on the effect of genetic drift and gene flow on the geographic distribution of female plants in a gynodioecious species is accepted for publication in Plants. This manuscript was led by Andrea Case and Hannah Appiah-Madson.
-Amanda Whitehead accepts a MSc position in the lab. Her project will focus on the effect of pollinator declines on floral evolution.
February 2022
-Former undergraduate thesis student Kiana Lee has a paper accepted for publication in the American Journal of Botany.
December 2021
-Chris is reappointed for a second 4-year-term as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Plant Sciences.
-Former undergraduate thesis student Olyvia Foster has a paper accepted for publication in the International Journal of Plant Sciences.
October 2021
-MSc student Gavin Hossack successfully defends his thesis.
September 2021
-Chris, PhD student Zach Teitel, and collaborator Sarah Yakimowski have a paper on the genetics of herbicide resistance accepted for publication in Molecular Ecology.
August 2021
-PhD student Zach Teitel successfully defends his dissertation.
-Chris co-leads a Collaborative Table (organized by Shoshanah Jacobs) on "Faculty Search Committees: Policies to Reduce Barriers to Access" at the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution meeting.
July 2021
-Former undergraduate thesis student Kiana Lee, MSc student Gavin Hossack, and undergraduate research student Olyvia Foster present their research at the Botany meeting.
June 2021
-Chris, PhD student Zach Teitel, and collaborator Sarah Yakimowski present their research on the genetics of herbicide resistance at the Evolution meeting.
-Former undergraduate thesis student Kiana Lee presents her research at the Canadian Society for Plant Biology meeting.
May 2021
-Former MSc student Amanda Benoit has a paper accepted for publication in Ecology.
-Chris, as a member of the globally distributed PlantPopNet project on spatial plant population dynamics (http://www.plantpopnet.com/), has a collaborative paper on genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity accepted for publication in Ecology Letters.
-Undergraduate thesis student Olyvia Foster presents at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
April 2021
-Undergraduate thesis students Olyvia Foster and Kiana Lee receive Young Botanist Awards from the Botanical Society of America.
-PhD student Hannah Brazeau is awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST).
August 2020
-Incoming PhD student Hannah Brazeau is awarded a University of Guelph Graduate Tuition Scholarship.
June 2020
-Hannah Brazeau accepts a PhD position in the lab. Her project will focus on the effect of pollinator declines on floral evolution.
May 2020
-Olyvia Foster receives funding from Eco Canada for a co-op position in the lab.
-Kiana Lee starts an NSERC undergraduate student research assistantship (USRA) position in the lab.
January 2020
-Chris, as a member of the globally distributed PlantPopNet project on spatial plant population dynamics (http://www.plantpopnet.com/), has a collaborative paper on gene flow and demography accepted for publication in PNAS.
-Chris, along with colleagues Chase Mason and Juliana Medeiros, edits a special issue of the International Journal of Plant Sciences on the Evolution of Functional Traits in Plants.
December 2019
-Chris is elected inaugural Treasurer of the Society for the Study of Evolution.
November 2019
-Former MSc student Hazel Panique's thesis on the effect of pollinator declines on floral evolution is accepted for publication in the American Journal of Botany.
October 2019
-Chris gives a seminar entitled "Can organisms adapt to environmental change? Insight from meta-analyses of natural selection" to the IB department at the University of Guelph.
August 2019
-MSc student Ariana Longley successfully defends her thesis.
-Chris' collaborative manuscript on mitochondrial recombination and the evolution of gynodioecy is accepted for publication in New Phytologist. This manuscript was led by Andrea Case and Binaya Adhikari, and is part of a special issue on the ecology and evolution of plant reproduction.
July 2019
-Chris' meta-analysis of natural selection on plant functional traits is accepted for publication in the International Journal of Plant Sciences. This manuscript is a collaboration with Hafiz Maherali and Ryan Martin, and is part of a special issue on the evolution of functional traits in plants.
-PhD student Zach Teitel and MSc student Ariana Longley present their research at Plant Canada.
June 2019
-Gavin Hossack accepts a MSc position in the lab. His project will focus on the effect of pollinator declines on selection on floral traits.
-Chris travels to Providence to present at the Evolution meetings.
-PhD student Zach Teitel travels to NIMBioS for a tutorial on "The Search for Selection". Check out the tutorial website here.
May 2019
-Senior thesis student Sarah McDonald's work on the effect of nectar robbing on selection on floral traits is accepted for publication in the International Journal of Plant Sciences.
-PhD student Zach Teitel and MSc student Ariana Longley present their research at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
February 2019
-Chris gives a (brand-spanking-new) seminar entitled "Can organisms adapt to environmental change? Insight from studies of natural selection" to the EEB Department at the University of Minnesota.
-Chris, along with colleagues Chase Mason and Juliana Medeiros, is organizing a Botany 2019 Colloquium on "The Evolution of Functional Traits in Plants: Is the Giant Still Sleeping?". See the description here.
October 2018
-Chris' meta-analysis of the agents of selection on floral traits is accepted for publication in Evolution. This paper is a collaboration with Ryan Martin, Nina Sletvold, and former lab technician Kate Eisen. Thanks to NESCent for supporting this project with a short-term visitor fellowship.
September 2018
-Chris, along with colleagues Chase Mason and Juliana Medeiros, is editing a special issue of the International Journal of Plant Sciences on the Evolution of Functional Traits in Plants. See the call for papers here.
-MSc student Hazel Panique successfully defends her thesis.
August 2018
-Chris arrives at the University of Minnesota, where she will be spending 12 months as a sabbatical visitor.
-Chris is a panelist in the lunchtime "Meet the editors" discussion at the Evolution meetings.
-Chris travels to Montpellier to present at the Evolution meetings.
July 2018
-Senior thesis student Sarah McDonald and MSc student Hazel Panique present their research at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE).
-Chris is a panelist in the lunchtime discussion on "Navigating the journal review process" at the the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE).
May 2018
-Senior thesis student Sarah McDonald and MSc student Ariana Longley present their research at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
April 2018
-Senior thesis student Sarah McDonald receives a Young Botanist Award from the Botanical Society of America.
-MSc student Ariana Longley is awarded an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.
-Chris is awarded a 5-year Discovery Grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
January 2018
-A response to a comment on our 2017 Science paper on the effect of climate on global variation in natural selection (link here) is published in the January 26th issue of Science. Check out the response here.
December 2017
-Chris travels to the University of Calgary to serve as an external examiner and give a seminar. Thanks to Jana Vamosi for arranging the visit.
November 2017
-Senior thesis student Sarah McDonald receives the Monroe Landon Memorial Scholarship.
August 2017
-Chris' paper on the environmental factors that cause variation in natural selection is published in the September issue of The American Naturalist. This paper is a product of a NESCent working group on the Environmental and Demographic Determinants of Natural Selection. Check out the paper here, and the summary here.
-Chris is appointed Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Plant Sciences effective January 2018. Check out the announcement here.
June 2017
-Incoming MSc student Ariana Longley is awarded a Graduate Excellence Entrance Scholarship.
-Chris travels to Portland to present at the Evolution meetings.
May 2017
-MSc student Hazel Panique presents at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
April 2017
-Ariana Longley, a graduate of the University of Toronto-Mississauga, accepts a MSc position in the lab.
-Chris has a paper on the environmental factors that cause variation in natural selection accepted at The American Naturalist. This paper is a product of a NESCent working group on the Environmental and Demographic Determinants of Natural Selection.
-Chris is elected treasurer of the American Society of Naturalists.
March 2017
-Sarah McDonald accepts an undergraduate student research assistantship (USRA) position in the lab.
-Our paper on the effect of temperature on the maintenance of gynodioecy is highlighted in the March News and Views section of the American Journal of Botany.
-Chris' paper on the effect of climate on global variation in natural selection is published in the March 3rd issue of Science. This paper is a product of a NESCent working group on the Environmental and Demographic Determinants of Natural Selection. Check out the editor's summary here, the NSF press release here, and the University of Guelph coverage here.
February 2017
-Chris has a paper on the effect of temperature on the maintenance of gynodioecy accepted at the American Journal of Botany. Thanks to the NSF ROA program for funding this work.
-Chris has a paper on the effect of climate on global variation in natural selection accepted at Science. This paper is a product of a NESCent working group on the Environmental and Demographic Determinants of Natural Selection.
January 2017
-Chris becomes a Scientist Mentor for the Understanding Biodiversity section of Frontiers for Young Minds.
December 2016
-Our paper on pollen presentation schedules in Lobelia siphilitica is featured on the cover of the January 2017 isssue of International Journal of Plant Sciences. Check out the article here, and the fabulous cover art here.
-PhD student Zach Teitel is awarded a Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement from NSERC. He will be using the award to travel to North Carolina, where he will work with a researcher from North Carolina State University to study the evolution of herbicide resistance in the agricultural weed Amaranthus palmeri.
August 2016
-Chris and former lab technician Kate Eisen have their paper on pollen presentation schedules in Lobelia siphilitica accepted at the International Journal of Plant Sciences.
-MSc student Amanda Benoit successfully defends her thesis.
June 2016
-Chris, MSc student Amanda Benoit, and former undergraduate researcher Katie Brown travel to Austin to present at the Evolution meetings.
May 2016
-PhD student Zach Teitel, MSc student Amanda Benoit, and former undergraduate researcher Katie Brown present at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
April 2016
-Senior thesis student Katie Brown receives a Young Botanist Award from the Botanical Society of America.
-PhD student Zach Teitel is awarded an Arthur D. Latornell Graduate Travel Grant.
March 2016
-PhD student Zach Teitel is awarded an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS-D).
-Chris travels to McMaster University to give a seminar. Thanks to Ian Dworkin for organizing the visit.
February 2016
-Former undergraduate researcher and technician Ruth Rivkin has her paper on the evolution of gynodioecy in the Lamiaceae accepted for publication in New Phytologist. Thanks to the NSF-REU program for funding this work.
-We have joined PlantPopNet (http://www.plantpopnet.com/), a globally distributed project on spatial plant population dynamics.
January 2016
-Our paper on the ecological and and morphological correlates of gynodioecy is featured on the cover of the February 2016 issue of International Journal of Plant Sciences. Check out the article here, and the fabulous cover art here.
-Our paper suggesting that plants eavesdrop on floral scent signals is featured on the cover of the January 2016 issue of Trends in Plant Science. Check out the article here, and the fabulous cover art here.
November 2015
-Senior thesis student Katie Brown receives the Monroe Landon Memorial Scholarship.
September 2015
-Senior thesis student Katie Brown receives the Tatjana Schulz Vanegas Memorial Scholarship and the University of Guelph Alumni Legacy Scholarship.
-Chris and former lab technician Kate Eisen have their paper on the ecological and and morphological correlates of gynodioecy accepted at the International Journal of Plant Sciences.
-Chris and former MSc student Amy Parachnowitsch have a collaborative paper (suggesting that plants eavesdrop on floral scent signals) accepted at Trends in Plant Science.
August 2015
-Chris travels to Lausanne for the European Society for Evolutionary Biology meeting. She will be talking in the Symposium on variation in natural selection.
July 2015
-Former lab technician Kate Eisen presents at the Botanical Society of America meeting in Edmonton. She'll be talking about a side project she did on pollen presentation strategies in Lobelia siphilitica.
May 2015
-Chris and Hafiz Maherali travel to the Guelph Montessori School to do a presentation on carnivorous plants for the Lower and Upper Elementary students.
-Former undergraduate researcher and lab technician Ruth Rivkin presents at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C). She'll be talking about her NSF-REU project on the evolution of gynodioecy in the mint family.
-Incoming PhD student Zach Teitel receives a Department of Integrative Biology PhD award.
-Zach Teitel, a recent MSc graduate from Lesley Campbell's lab at Ryerson University, accepts a PhD position in the lab. Zach will be starting in Fall 2015.
April 2015
-Chris travels to St. John's-Kilmarnock School to do an "Ask an evolutionary biologist" Q&A. Thanks to Grade 4 teacher Nigel Goodfellow for the invitation to visit, and to the students for asking so many interesting questions.
-Technician (and former undergraduate researcher) Ruth Rivkin receives a Young Botanist Award from the Botanical Society of America.
March 2015
-Technician (and former undergraduate researcher) Ruth Rivkin has her senior thesis accepted for publication in Evolution.
February 2015
-Chris travels to University of Toronto-Mississauga to give a seminar. Thanks to Marc Johnson for organizing the visit.
-Undergraduate Katie Brown is awarded a College of Biological Science Summer Research Assistantship.
-Technician (and former undergraduate researcher) Ruth Rivkin receives her BSc (with distinction) from the University of Guelph.
November 2014
-MSc student Jesse Jarvis successfully defends his MSc thesis.
October 2014
-Our side project on outbreeding depression and heterosis in Lobelia siphilitica is accepted for publication in the Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society. Many lab alumni, including technicians Allison Benscoter and Liz Seifert, and undergraduate researchers Nigel Gale and Emily Mills, are co-authors on this work.
September 2014
-MSc student Jesse Jarvis travels to Saskatoon to present at the Entomological Society of Canada meetings.
July 2014
-Chris travels to Boise to give a talk in the "On Models and Methods Pertaining to Plant Reproduction" symposium at the Botanical Society of America meetings.
June 2014
-Incoming MSc student Amanda Benoit is awarded an International Graduate Tuition Scholarship.
-Chris, undergraduate Ruth Rivkin, and former lab technician Kate Eisen travel to Raleigh to give talks at the Evolution 2014 meetings.
-Chris arrives at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), where she will be spending two months as a visiting scholar.
May 2014
-Undergraduate researcher Ruth Rivkin wins the award for best talk by an undergraduate at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
-Lab technician Kate Eisen and undergraduate researcher Ruth Rivkin present at the Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium (OE3C).
February 2014
-Amanda Benoit, a graduate of Trent University, accepts a MSc. position in the lab. Amanda will be starting in Fall 2014.
-Chris arrives at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) for a working group on the Environmental and Demographic Determinants of Natural Selection.
January 2014
-Ruth Rivkin, a senior thesis student in the lab, will be staying on summer 2014 to work on some phylogenetic analyses of the evolution of gynodioecy. Thanks to the NSF-REU program for funding this project.
-Chris joins the editorial board of The American Naturalist.
August 2013
-Lab alumni Erica Wassink's MSc thesis is accepted for publication in Botany.
June 2013
-Chris arrives at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), where she will be spending two months as a visiting scholar.
-Lab alumni Rachel Germain's senior thesis is published in the International Journal of Plant Sciences.