Susana Wadgymar

Education

Postdoctoral Associate, University of Georgia (Genetics/Ecology)
Ph.D. University of Toronto (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)
B.S. University of Texas at Austin (Ecology, Evolution and Behavior)

Areas of Expertise

Plant Biology
Evolutionary Ecology
Environmental Change

Background

I am an evolutionary ecologist who studies the processes that promote or constrain adaptive evolution in plant systems, often in the context of informing conservation management plans. Owing to their sessile nature, plants have evolved a diverse array of strategies to thrive under challenging, variable, and unpredictable environmental conditions. A fundamental understanding of the processes that enable plants to establish and proliferate can help us predict how local adaptation arises and is maintained. In my lab and classroom, I offer students a welcoming and inclusive environment in which to acquire knowledge through study, practice, discussion, and, above all, questioning.

Research

My research program tests theoretical predictions in ecology and evolutionary biology by integrating field-based and greenhouse experiments with laboratory and analytical techniques. Students in my lab conduct experiments to test how natural selection, gene flow, phenotypic and transgenerational plasticity, and changing environmental conditions act to influence local adaptation in plants. We use the insights gained from these studies to assess how to successfully implement conservation management plans, including assisted migration and assisted gene flow.