Dave Smith

I study patterns of genetic variation in plants and the causes of that variation. Further, I study the consequences of plant genetic variation on the surrounding community. For example, I am currently setting up an experiment to study genetic variation in native plants across a climate gradient, hypothesizing that plants have genetically differentiated in cooler coastal areas compared to warmer inland populations. And I will look at the plants’ associated arthropod community to see if/how plant genetic variation leads to variation in the arthropod community.