Biology Seminar | Sarah Donelan, PhD | Smithsonian Environmental Research Center | Legacies of stress: eco-evolutionary consequences of transgenerational & carryover effects in coastal systems

Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
Abstract: Phenotypic plasticity is a critical component of organismal responses to environmental change. My seminar will focus on a central theme of my research program - "legacy effects," or how past environmental experiences shape organism phenotypes, the mechanisms of these changes, and the consequences of these changes for communities and ecosystems. We will explore how parental experience with predators influences fitness and physiology in intertidal snails and how early life exposure to climate change stressors impacts oyster growth and nitrogen storage, a critical ecosystem service. By asking questions across scales, my work reveals new insight into how legacy effects shape eco-evolutionary patterns and processes in natural systems.