Research

How does chemical diversity evolve, and what does it mean for plants, fungi, and their interactions?

We combine metabolomics, quantitative genetics, phylogenomics, and physiology to connect chemical variation with ecological and evolutionary processes.

01 / Research theme

Macroevolution of plant chemodiversity

Diagram connecting plant evolutionary relationships, geography, leaf mineral nutrition, and chemical traits.

Across species and evolutionary lineages, we connect leaf chemistry, nutrition, and physiology to understand the evolution of growth and defense.

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02 / Research theme

Plant ecophysiology & chemical diversity

Scatterplot relating the leaf economics spectrum to specialized metabolism, with slow, high-defense and fast, low-defense ends labeled.

Within and among populations, we ask how genetic variation and the environment shape plant chemistry, physiology, and growth–defense trade-offs.

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03 / Research theme

Chemical defenses & pathogens

Diagram showing sunflower chemical defenses and Botrytis cinerea infection of leaf tissue.

We study how genetic variation helps fungal pathogens navigate the diverse chemical defenses of their plant hosts.

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04 / Research theme

Fungal ecophysiology & quantitative genetics

Botrytis evolutionary tree showing associated plant families and infected plant tissues.

We link genetic diversity to pathogen traits across scales, combining fungal ecophysiology, quantitative genetics, and phylogenomics.

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