Climate change has shifted flowering phenology in myriad species. While phenology shifts are well documented, we know little about what their eco-evolutionary effects are. LEC postdoc Matt Austin is studying the relationship between flowering phenology shifts and inbreeding in 10 focal species native to the greater Saint Louis region: Claytonia virginica, Sanguinaria canadensis, Erythronium albidum, Uvularia grandiflora, Aquilegia canadensis, Polemonium reptans, Penstemon digitalis, Chamaecrista fasciculata, Sabatia angularis, and Agalinis tenuifolia. Pre-exisiting herbarium and field data show that these species have shifted flowering time over the past century. IDr. Austin is testing whether flowering phenology shifts correspond to inbreeding by sequencing populations of these focal species at Tyson and comparing metrics of genetic diversity to historic populations sequenced from herbarium samples.
Effects of flowering phenology shifts on inbreeding