Christina Steinecke, Graduate Student

I am an evolutionary biologist broadly interested in major evolutionary transitions in plants and the conditions that produce them. More specifically, I am interested in identifying the unique forces that drive the enormous diversity in plant reproductive strategies. For my master’s thesis, I researched the evolution of clonality in Mimulus guttatus and how selection on clonal reproduction can affect correlated traits, and for my undergraduate thesis I studied how self-compatibility can drive reproductive isolation among populations of Arabidopsis lyrata. In the Hopkins’ lab I am now working to elucidate the causes and consequences of hybridization, polyploidy, and contrasting life history strategies in Texan Phlox species.