As a domesticated plant, maize has adapted to conditions in an environment shaped by humans. Thanks to its agricultural importance and longstanding genetic model, there is a wealth of data on both genotype and phenotype that can be used to understand how this adaptation occurred and is still occurring.

As crops have dispersed across the globe, they have had to adapt to a wide range of novel conditions. As climates change, crop plants will be forced to adapt or face local extinction.

Jennifer Funk studies how plant traits influence ecological processes including drought response, plant invasion, and ecological restoration. Students involved in this work would engage in greenhouse and field projects, with coupled physiological and community-level measurements in a variety of plant communities, from California grasslands to tropical forest understories. 

note: not accepting students in Summer 2023

Anthropogenic effects, notably, habitat conversion from natural to managed systems, can alter interactions between plants, insects, and microbial communities; but these effects on such complex systems are poorly understood. Bacteria and yeast that live in floral nectar affect pollinator visitation and influence floral characteristics.

Around the world, climate change has caused differences in mean temperature and precipitation, but also variation in the scale and timing of climatic events. The timing of weather events, such as germination-triggering rains, the melting of snowpack, and freeze or thaw cycles often have major effects on organisms that must synchronize birth, growth, and reproduction with favorable conditions. The timing of these events -- phenology -- in turn affects how individuals interact with their abiotic and biotic environment.