Jennifer Rudgers

Research Interests:

My research integrates community ecology with evolutionary biology to explore the ecological dynamics and the evolutionary consequences of interactions among plants and other species. Plants interact with other community members through both direct and indirect pathways. For example, plants are directly attacked by herbivores but may gain indirect resistance to herbivory from the predators of herbivores or from microbial mutualists, such as endophytic fungi. Considering plants in the context of the whole ecological community can improve our understanding of factors that govern their distribution and abundance. We may also uncover novel ways in which multiple species interact to affect the evolution of plant traits. Throughout my research, I strive to tackle questions with both conceptual and applied significance. Advanced knowledge of the importance of multi-species interactions in both natural and managed ecosystems can help us to make better predictions about the ecological and evolutionary consequences of environmental change.