Landscape Effects on Non-Crop Plants

The Poveda lab has produced a growing body of literature demonstrating that landscape simplification alters the abundance and diversity of insects persisting in a landscape and that these community shifts affect the ecosystem services provided by insects. Our 2nd year PhD student Hayley is investigating how landscape mediated changes in insect communities are affecting non-crop plants across the landscape. We predict insects impose variable selection on traits related to defense and reproduction across the landscape gradient, with potential for conflicting selection between herbivores and pollinators. This work will explore how landscape simplification is affecting plant-insect interactions, how well plant populations are able to adapt to changing communities, and ultimately, inform how landscape simplification is shaping biodiversity and ecosystem function.