Plenary Speakers

Dr. Coudert’s lab investigates how the shape of biological organisms is established. His research focuses on mosses and aims to understand the molecular mechanisms underpinning the development and evolution of their branching patterns and phyllotaxis, which constitute major determinants of shape diversity in plants.

https://yoancoudert.wixsite.com/labo

http://www.ens-lyon.fr/RDP/spip.php?rubrique20#yoan

Mélanie is a plant ecologist with a strong interest for bryophyte communities in temperate to subarctic ecosystems, especially in ecotones. Her research aims to understand the factors controlling the assembly of moss communities and their microbiota, as well as their ecosystem functions (carbon and nitrogen cycles). She uses a variety of ecological, biogeochemical, and molecular approaches to address the roles and diversity of bryophyte communities under changing climate and disturbance regimes using field-based observational and experimental studies. 

Bryan is an evolutionary biologist and studies Sphagnum peat mosses. His research integrates techniques in experimental ecology, computational biology, and phylogenetics to better understand how genetic variation across levels of biological organization correlates with variation in plant functional traits that scale to drive ecosystem processes. Bryan received a Ph.D. in Biology from Duke University in 2020 (advisor: Jon Shaw), a master’s degree from Southern Illinois University in 2015 (advisor: Karen Renzaglia), and a bachelor’s degree from Roanoke College in 2012 (advisor: DorothyBelle Poli). He currently works on evolutionary genomics in Sphagnum as a Postdoctoral Associate at Duke University.

From genes to traits and ecosystems: reconstructing the evolution of extended phenotypes in Sphagnum (peat moss)

Plants in the genus Sphagnum (peat moss) are the dominant biotic features of boreal peatlands that store roughly one-quarter of Earth’s terrestrial carbon. Peat mosses are ecosystem engineers and create the peatlands that they inhabit through the accumulation of peat, or partially decayed biomass, and the functional traits underlying this extended phenotype. Interspecific trait variation promotes niche differentiation through the creation of ecological gradients along which species sort within communities. One prominent gradient relates to height-above-water-table wherein some species produce hummocks elevated above the water table, while others live in hollows at or near the water table. However, it is unclear how these traits evolved during Sphagnum diversification, to what extent natural selection produced functional trait variation, and which genes might contribute to such phenotypes.
I sought to better understand how genes can scale to ecosystems through plant functional traits using Sphagnum as a model system. Meta-analysis was used to demonstrate that variation in traits related to growth, decomposability, and litter biochemistry is phylogenetically conserved in Sphagnum, suggesting a genetic basis for these traits. Using field experiments, I found that selection favors different levels of decomposability corresponding to optimum niche. Genomic data were then used to show that genes involved in cell wall biosynthesis are related to decomposability and were among the targets of selection during the evolution of hummock and hollow lineages. These results demonstrate evolution of ecosystem engineering via selection on an extended phenotype, of a fundamental ecosystem process, and one of the Earth’s largest soil carbon pools.

Prof. Vamosi is a biodiversity scientist involved in the conservation of Canada's plant species. Her lab researches the factors influencing declines in threatened plant species in Canada, and aims to pinpoint species for which the threat of climate change will increase extinction risk. Her research programme brings evolutionary perspectives to questions pertaining to the study of polyploidy and plant-insect interactions in the species at risk of extinction in Canada.

people.ucalgary.ca/~jvamosi/

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