معرفی
Jennifer Weber serves as Assistant Professor and Biological Sciences Program Coordinator in the Department of Plant Biology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her research program investigates plant evolutionary ecology with emphasis on trait variation mechanisms across spatial and temporal scales.
Her educational background includes:
- M.S. in 2007 from East Carolina University
- Ph.D. in 2012 from University of California, Irvine
Dr. Weber's research centers on two interconnected domains: the evolution of plant mating systems and population-level responses to climate change. She examines how factors like pollination environment, inbreeding depression, and phenotypic plasticity influence mating system dynamics in species such as Triodanis perfoliata and Oxalis alpina. Her work integrates field observations, greenhouse experiments, and molecular analyses to understand adaptive processes in natural plant populations facing environmental change. Current projects explore flowering time shifts over century-long timescales and the fitness consequences of cleistogamous reproduction.
Analysis of her recent publications (2019-2013) reveals consistent focus on climate-driven phenological changes and mating system evolution. Key trends include investigation of long-term flowering time shifts across spatial gradients, mechanisms maintaining mixed-mating systems through cleistogamy, and genetic basis of heterostyly in polyploid populations. Her collaborative work with Project Baseline establishes critical resources for studying plant evolution under climate change scenarios.
Dr. Weber actively mentors undergraduate and graduate researchers, as evidenced by student co-authorships marked with asterisks (undergraduate) and daggers (graduate) in her publications. Her laboratory conducts integrated field-greenhouse-molecular studies on plant evolutionary ecology, with current projects examining climate adaptation in weedy annuals and breeding system evolution in heterostylous species. The Weber Lab maintains active field sites and collaborates with researchers across multiple institutions on climate change response studies.
