For detailed information, please visit the lab website (link above). \u00a0My students and I focus on how organisms adapt to changing environments.\u00a0 We use a variety of organisms both in the field and under controlled environments to address fundamental questions about the evolution of adaptive phenotypic plasticity and bet-hedging traits under fluctuating environments.<\/p>\n
Especially useful as model organisms are monocarpic (i.e. reproduce once per lifetime) plants, such as Lobelia inflata<\/em>; and plants with rapid generation times such as Spirodela polyrhiza<\/em>, a member of the duckweed subfamily (Lemnoideae) which are the smallest flowering plants on the planet. We are concerned, too, with the genetic mechanisms underlying expression of life-history traits.<\/p>\n Morris, R.S., M.E. Compton, and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2020. Birth order as a source of within-genotype\u00a0diversification in the clonal duckweed,\u00a0Spirodela polyrhiza<\/em>\u00a0(Araceae: Lemnoideae).\u00a0Biological\u00a0Journal of the Linnean Society<\/em>\u00a0(In press).<\/p>\n Hitsman, H.W. and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2020. Latitudinal variation in norms of reaction of phenology in\u00a0the greater duckweed\u00a0Spirodela polyrhiza<\/em>.\u00a0Journal of Evolutionary Biology\u00a0<\/em>33:1405-1416.<\/p>\n Wen, L. and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2020. Delusions of grandeur: Seed count is not a good fitness proxy\u00a0under individual variation in phenology.\u00a0Journal of Evolutionary Biology<\/em>. 33:1039-1049.<\/p>\n C\u00f4t\u00e9, K. and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2020.\u00a0Genotype-environment interaction and the maintenance of\u00a0genetic variation: an empirical study of\u00a0Lobelia inflata<\/em>\u00a0(Campanulaceae).\u00a0Roy. Soc. Open Sci.<\/em>\u00a07:191720.<\/p>\n Brady, S. P., \u2026, A.M. Simons<\/strong>\u00a0et al. 2019. Causes of maladaptation.\u00a0Evolutionary Applications\u00a0<\/em>12:1229-1242.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Van Wieren, J.F., and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2019. Prescribed fire increases seedling recruitment in a\u00a0natural pitch pine (Pinus rigida<\/em>) population at its northern range limit.\u00a0Natural Areas Journal<\/em>\u00a039:308-318.<\/p>\n Brady, S. P., \u2026, A.M. Simons<\/strong>\u00a0et al. 2019. Causes of maladaptation.\u00a0Evolutionary Applications<\/em>\u00a012:1229-1242.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mejbel, H.S., and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2018. Aberrant clones: birth order generates life-history diversity\u00a0in Greater Duckweed,\u00a0Spirodela polyrhiza<\/em>.\u00a0Ecology and Evolution\u00a0<\/em>8:2021-2031.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fukase, J., and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2016. Increased pollinator activity in urban gardens with more native flora.\u00a0Applied Ecology and Environmental Research<\/em>\u00a014:297-310.<\/p>\n Hughes, P.W.D., and A.M. Simons.<\/strong> 2015. Microsatellite evidence for obligate autogamy, but\u00a0abundant genetic variation in the herbaceous monocarp\u00a0Lobelia inflata<\/em>.\u00a0Journal of Evolutionary\u00a0Biology\u00a0<\/em>28:2068-2077.<\/p>\n Hughes, P.W.D., and A.M. Simons<\/strong>.\u00a02014. Changing reproductive effort within a semelparous\u00a0reproductive episode.\u00a0American Journal of Botany<\/em>\u00a0101:1323-1331.<\/p>\n Graham, J.K., M.L. Smith, and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2014. Experimental evolution of bet hedging under\u00a0manipulated environmental uncertainty in\u00a0Neurospora crassa<\/em>.\u00a0Proceedings of the Royal Society B<\/em>\u00a0281: 20140706.<\/p>\n Simons, A.M<\/strong>. 2014. Playing smart vs. playing safe: the joint expression of phenotypic plasticity\u00a0and potential bet hedging across and within thermal environments\u00a0Journal of Evolutionary Biology<\/em>\u00a027:1047-1056.<\/p>\n Hughes, P.W.D., and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2014. Secondary reproduction in the herbaceous monocarp\u00a0Lobelia inflata:\u00a0time-constrained primary reproduction does not result in increased deferral of\u00a0reproductive effort.\u00a0BMC Ecology\u00a014:15.<\/p>\n Hughes, P.W.D., and A.M. Simons<\/strong>. 2014. The continuum between semelparity and iteroparity:\u00a0Plastic expression of parity in response to season length manipulation in\u00a0Lobelia inflata.\u00a0BMC\u00a0Evolutionary Biology<\/em>\u00a014:90.<\/p>\nSelected\u00a0Publications<\/h2>\n