We had a productive first meeting for our starting NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity project “Biotic and abiotic drivers of Neotropical plant speciation”. This project, led by Kathleen Kay (UC-Santa Cruz), focuses on spiral gingers in the monocot genus Costus in Costa Rica and Panama. We will test different hypotheses on how biotic and abiotic interactions create and maintain diversity in the tropics. Our laboratory at UCONN will focus on many fascinating antagonistic plant-arthropod interactions affecting plant and insect fitness.
Our lab is so proud to join this dream team of researchers, postdocs and graduate students working on many topics from plant physiology to chemical ecology, animal interactions, phylogenetics and beyond. Next time we see each other, it will be in the jungles of Central America!
Team Costus brainstorming session – connecting demography, phylogenetics, plant physiology, plant chemistry, biotic and abiotic interactions to disentangle the processes maintaining biodiversity in the tropics.
