Advis
or: Dr. Michael Moore
Date: May 22, 2026
Time: 10:00am – 11:00pm
Location: North Classroom 3207
The Mountains are Calling, Can I Go? On the Development of Ecological and Reproductive Traits at Novel Elevations in Odonates
As the planet warms, organisms are expected to shift their ranges either latitudinally or upslope to follow shifting thermal isoclines. Current range shifts are not consistently following these predictions, however, with upslope shifting often lagging behind rates of environmental change. One possible explanation for this mismatch is that temperature is not the sole environmental condition that changes as an organism moves upslope. Instead, high elevation environments are often characterized by harsh conditions that, if an organism lacks trait production that would enable them to withstand these conditions, could restrict species establishment at high elevations. To determine whether an inability to produce traits suited to high elevations is a barrier to upslope range shifting, I conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment that exposed odonates to novel elevations during development. After rearing lowland and highland dragonfly and damselfly larvae at a high vs low elevation site, I measured adult traits that would be useful in the harsh conditions at high elevation. Results showed that, when reared at high elevations, lowland damselflies and dragonflies differed in trait production and rates of plasticity, with dragonflies exhibiting plasticity in low oxygen tolerance in the direction of their highland counterparts, and damselflies developing body brightness and cold tolerance values more similar to highlanders when reared upslope. As my results therefore indicate that lowland odonates can produce the phenotypes of highland odonates when they develop at high elevations, a lack of developmental plasticity is unlikely to prevent species from moving upslope.