Evolutionary Ecology Across Diverse Landscapes: Lichens, Lions, Lepidoptera and Climate Change

From developmental biology to rapid evolution to drought, the trajectory of evolutionary ecology is strongly impacted by landscape-level variation. Across diverse landscapes, climatic variation impacts an organism’s trajectory at scales ranging from metres to thousands of kilometres. This talk will present research into landscape biology across diverse study organisms, with a focus on finding applications for basic science.

Daniel Anstett carried out his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, majoring in evolutionary biology. There he studied lichen development with Ellen Larsen, and landscape ecology with Marie-Josee Fortin. Daniel then did his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto Mississauga on latitudinal gradients in herbivory and plant defences with Marc Johnson. Currently he is carrying out a postdoc at the Biodiversity Centre focusing on rapid evolution to drought in Scarlet Monkeyflower throughout California. Daniel is a recipient of the Vanier scholarship, current holder of the Banting Fellowship, and is short listed for the Schmidt Science Fellowship.