Causes and consequences of plant biodiversity

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The observation that species richness is not distributed uniformly among lineages or geographical localities has intrigued biologists for over a century. The exact mechanisms by which these imbalances in diversity manifest themselves, however, remain elusive. My research interests lie in exploring the ecological and evolutionary processes that have shaped diversity in the flowering plants. Through past research I have contributed to our understanding of the role of specific traits, such as mating system and pollination modes, in altering speciation and extinction rates. In addition, my work has introduced the idea that diversifying natural selection to reduce competition for pollination increases as the number of coflowering species increases, and this in turn creates increased pressure for future speciation.