Southeastern Population Ecology and
Evolutionary Genetics Conference
October 3-5, 2025
Friday 4:00- Arrive and move into Caylor Lodge. After 4:30, follow signs
and John will be checking folks in until 8-8:30 pm…………………Dining Hall
later -Men left side of dorm, upstairs and down
-Women right side of dorm, upstairs and down
Saturday 8:00 Breakfast & Orientation (John)................................................Dining Hall
Orientation will take place during breakfast - please be on time
9:00 Presentations (15 min) see list of sessions below............................Cove Room
10:30 B R E A K
11:00 Presentations (15 min) see list of sessions below............................Cove Room
12:30 L U N C H (Jeremy)
Announcements for afternoon sessions - Gift Shop open
1:30 Lightning Talks (5 min) see list of sessions below............................Cove Room
2:00 B R E A K
2:30 Presentations (15 min) see list of sessions below............................Cove Room
4:30 Poster Session see numbered list below.……..Cove Room and Spruce Fir Room
6:00 S U P P E R (Tyler)
Announcements for evening sessions
7:00 Evening session…Keynote Speaker: Megan Behringer (Vanderbilt University)
“Experimental Evolution provides insights into the fitness landscape and eco-evolutionary feedbacks during feast/famine”
8:00 Faculty Meeting (make plans for next year)
Sunday 8:00 Breakfast & pack a sack lunch (Jeremy)
9:00 Presentations (15 Min) see list of sessions below............................Cove Room
10:15 B R E A K
10:45 Presentations (15 min) see list of sessions below............................Cove Room
Safe travels!
Saturday morning Sessions in the Cove Room
Time | Presenter | Title | Co-authors |
9:30- 9:45 | Emily B. Smith | Coinfection and the Red Queen | Emily B. Smith; Maisy Christians; Jessie Chen; Caroline Kim; Levi T. Morran |
9:45- 10:00 | James (Gabe) DuBose | Pleiotropic Constraint and Evolutionary Stability of Conditional Phenotypes | James G. DuBose-Charles Qiujie Wang |
10:00-10:15 | Bryan S. McLean | Phenotypic plasticity as an energetic strategy in Appalachian small mammals | |
10:15-10:30 | Jenny McCann | Regulatory evolution during neo-functionalization of a sex determining gene | Jenny McCann; Mike White |
B R E A K
Time | Presenter | Title | Co-authors |
11:00-11:15 | Lynsey Blevins | Female Benefits of Mate Plugging in Caenorhabditis Nematodes | Lynsey Blevins; Katja R. Kasimatis |
11:15-11:30 | Ethan Shealy | Examining the effects of chronic toxic metal exposure within and across generations of Japanese medaka | Ethan P Shealy; Marilyn W Mason; Benjamin B Parrott |
11:30-11:45 | Miles Appleton | Effects of male population age structure on competitive trait selection in the Forked Fungus Beetle | Miles D Appleton; Charlotte A Greene; Clara Stahlmann Roeder; Butch D Brodie III; Vince A Formica |
11:45-12:00 | Hannah Walton | Seasonal Polyphenisms of Coliadinae butterflies: plasticity as fuel for diversification | Dr. Ryan Spahn Ficarrotta; Dr. Brian Counterman |
12:00-12:15 | Eleanore Ritter | Mating systems shape transposable element dynamics in Mimulus (monkeyflowers) | Eleanore J. Ritter; Andrea Sweigart |
Saturday afternoon sessions
Lightning Talks
Time | Presenter | Title | Co-authors |
1:35-1:40 | Bethany Burns | Population Genomics of Seagrass Restoration | Bethany Burns; Kasey MacLeod; Marc W Schmid; Tom Ries; Eric Hoffman; Justin Tutt; Susan Bell; Christina Richards |
1:40-1:45 | Bryce Wade | Ecological connectivity and habitat loss shape patterns of genetic diversity in a threatened salamander | Bryce S. Wade; Todd W. Pierson; William E. Peterman; Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick; Evin T. Carter |
1:45-1:50 | Armaan Salchak | Genomic Analysis of Predation Resistance, Multicellularity, and Virulence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae | Helen Murphy; Ana Kothandram; Debby Zhong; Grace Bellamy |
1:50-1:55 | Andrea Berardi | Reproductive barriers between Fire Pink and Wild Pink | Andrea E. Berardi |
1:55-2:00 | Sol Adams | Evaluating abiotic selection in a flower color gradient | Sol Adams; Matthew Koski |
B R E A K
Time | Presenter | Title | Co-authors |
2:30- 2:45 | Robert Cooper | Can hydroperiod management reverse invasive hybridization in California Tiger Salamanders? | Robert Cooper; Erin Toffelmer; Brad Shaffer |
2:45- 3:00 | Aidan Shaw | Reproductive Isolation and Patterns of Co-occurrence in Black-bellied and Shovel-nosed Salamanders (Desmognathus) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park | Aidan Shaw; Ben Fitzpatrick |
3:00- 3:15 | Chelsea Rodriguez | Assessment of symbiosis between Phyllanthus (Phyllanthaceae) and Epicephala (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) in the Caribbean | Chelsea Rodriguez; James Rodriguez; Esme Damico-Lassman; Elvia Meléndez-Ackerman; David H. Hembry |
3:15- 3:30 | Logan Havard | The Recombination Rate Landscape of the Mississippi Diamond-backed Terrapin | Logan G. Havard; Christopher A. Dye; Matthew E. Wolak; Laurie S. Stevison |
3:30- 3:45 | Logan Scott | Investigating a Candidate 'Speciation' Gene and Reproductive Isolation in Mimulus | Logan Scott; Andrea Sweigart; Samuel Mantel |
Sunday morning sessions
Time | Presenter | Title | Co-authors | |
9:15-9:30 | Mercedes Sánchez Cabrera | Testing if sensory drive shapes flower color evolution | Mercedes Sánchez-Cabrera; Katherine Riddle; Matt Koski |
|
9:30-9:45 | William McLaughlin | Asymmetric interactions and feast–famine cycles drive chaos in microbial populations | William F. McLaughlin; Thomas Beardsley; Natalia L. Komarova; Megan G. Behringer | |
9:45-10:00 | Ben Fitzpatrick | Genetics and Brook Trout restoration in the Great Smoky Mountains | Benjamin M. Fitzpatrick; Rebecca J. Smith | |
10:00-10:15 | Bruce S. Martin | Do rates of phenotypic evolution scale with body size among eucalypts? | Bruce S. Martin, Marjorie G. Weber, and James H. Leebens-Mack |
Time | Presenter | Title | Co-authors |
10:45-11:00 | Md Monjurul Islam Rifat | Excursions along the Drift Barrier: Evolution of the rate and fitness effects of mutation under minimal selection in Caenorhabditis elegans | Sayran Saber ; Md. Monjurul Islam Rifat ; Michael Snyder ; Amber Singh ; Fahimeh Rahimi ; Benjamin Eickwort ; Yell Newhall ; Moein Rajaei ; Ayush Shekhar Saxena ; Robyn Tanny ; Vaishali Katju ; Erik C. Andersen ;Juannan Zhou ; Charles F. Baer |
11:00-11:15 | Maris Woldin | Testing pollen longevity as a pollination syndrome trait in Oenothera | Maris Woldin; Krissa Skogen; Matthew Koski |
11:15-11:30 | Morgan Fleming | Shifts in salamander body size associated with 60 years of climate change | J. Morgan Fleming & Kimberly Sheldon |
Poster session - 4:30 pm Saturday:
Number | Presenter | Title & Co-authors |
1 | Charles Qiujie Wang | Geometric Insights into Pleiotropy and the Evolutionary Stability of Conditional Phenotypes |
| James G. DuBose-Charles Qiujie Wang | |
2 | Lauren Walling | Elevated epigenetic variation associated with the successful introduction of an invasive cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, population in France compared to native North American populations |
|
| Lauren Kezia Walling; Isolde van Riemsdijk; Raúl A. González-Pech; Armel Salmon; Malika Ainouche; Oscar Lima; Jeannie Mounger; Marc Schmid; John Everett Parkinson; Christina Richards |
3 | Katie Pelikan | Phylogenomic Concordance Across the Radiation of Ground Dwelling Squirrels |
| Katie E. Pelikan; H. Thomas Goodwin; Kayce C. Bell; Joseph A. Cook; Bryan S. McLean | |
4 | Andrew Grieve | How Genes Escape Conflict: Network Modeling of Sexual Conflict Resolution |
|
| Andrew Grieve; Nicholas W. Landry; Katja R. Kasimatis |
5 | Marlee Greenspan | Understanding the role of the Anti-Müllerian Hormone receptor in stickleback sex determination |
| Marlee Greenspan, Jenny McCann, Michael White | |
6 | Melika Ghasemi Shiran | Plastic recombination in Drosophila melanogaster |
|
| Melika Ghasemi Shiran; Spencer Koury; Connor Haynes; Lauren MacCann; Laurie Stevison |
7 | Chipper Johnson | Evolution of the recombination regulation protein PRDM9 across non-avian reptiles |
| Chipper K. Johnson; Logan G. Havard; Laurie S. Stevison | |
8 | Alexandra Tadros | Epigenetic clock reveals the history of Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia-0 lab seed stock propagation |
|
| Alexandra Tadros; Bob Schmitz |
9 | Alexandra Stellwagen | Signatures of selection in putative insecticide resistance loci in invasive populations of African Fig Fly, Zaprionus indianus |
| Alexandra Stellwagen; Priscilla Erickson | |
10 | Ava Mackay-Smith | Capturing Standing Variation and Hybridization in Heliconius butterfly pangenomes |
|
| Mackay-Smith A; Wray GA |
11 | Mia Hollekim | Invasive African fig flies have reduced cold hardening ability compared to cosmopolitan drosophilid species |
| Mia Hollekim; Lucy Smith; Priscilla Erickson | |
12 | Robert Porter | Variation in dormancy strategies between Daphnia obtusa and Daphnia pulex |
|
| Robert J. Porter; Lauren A. Bradshaw; Isabelle F. Marsh; Madison E. Doceti; Alan O. Bergland |
13 | Molly Walker | Determining the genetics of cytonuclear incompatibility: a transcriptional approach |
| Molly Walker; Ava Wehr; Alfredo Lopez-Caamal; Laura Galloway; Karen Barnard-Kubow | |
14 | Paige MacMillan and Aaron Baldwin | Determining the genetics of cytonuclear incompatibility: a whole genome approach. |
|
| Paige MacMillan; Aaron Baldwin; Alfredo Lopez-Caamal; Laura Galloway; Karen Barnard-Kubow |
15 | Brayden Messick | Characterizing the putative southern hybridization zone of Plethodon virginia and Plethodon hoffmani |
| Brayden Messick; Nicholas Kurdziel; Billy Flint; Karen Barnard-Kubow | |
16 | Watson Koeppel | Developing High-throughput Methods for Characterizing Zooplankton Communities |
|
| Thomas Jones;Watson Koeppel;Dr. Barnard-Kubow |
17 | Beckett Ledahl | Potential Mechanisms Underlying Non-buzz Pollination in Chamaecrista fasciculata |
| Cindy Wan, Madison Cassel-Hughes, Gabe Edmonston, Alexa Frain, Beckett Ledahl, John Ramsey, Juan Perez-Caicedo, Katarina Salisbury, Susana Wadgymar | |
18 | Andrew Brown | Temperature- and Density-dependent Effects on Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) Growth, Life History, and Trophic Cascades |
|
| Andrew Brown; Howard Whiteman |
19 | Awdrea Lysiane Ibinga Manga | Impact of past human settlements on mammal diversity in Gabon: Forests of Doumé in the Departement of Mulundu |
| Awdrea Lysiane Ibinga Manga , Nicola Anthony , Stephan Ntie , Johannes Foufopoulos , Gabin Nzamba , Josephine Anderson , Waris Doreine Angue Mba , Anika Ellis , Francois Ewore Ndong ,Vicky Mabecka Nogha , Zoe Plute | |
20 | Dante Knight | Shape coevolution between sexual host and their sperm parasite |
|
| Dante Knight; Tyler Reich; Ingo Schlupp; Waldir Miron Berbel-Filho |
21 | Waldir Miron | Sperm morphology is affected by the evolution of placenta in livebearing fishes |
| Waldir M. Berbel-Filho; Emanuell Duarte-Ribeiro; Tyler Reich; Marissa Cartee; Mayank Kashyap; Igor Souto-Santos; Lucas Medeiros; Yuri Abrantes; Sergio Lima; David Reznick; Ingo Schlupp | |
22 | Jennifer Kovacs | Genetic and Caste-Driven Divergence in Wing Shape of the Eastern Yellowjacket Wasp (Vespula maculifrons) |
|
| Kayla Murray, Sarah Orr, Emma Gosse, Rachel Hill, Michael A.D. Goodisman |
23 | Esme Damico-Lassman | Phylogenetic relationships of undescribed leafflower moths (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae: Epicephala) from North America |
| Esme Damico-Lassman, Chelsea Rodriguez, David H. Hembry | |
24 | Katherine Benjamin | Characterizing the genetic basis of male sex determination in brook stickleback |
|
| Katherine Benjamin, Shannon Fox, Tyler Downs, Erica Marlette, Matthew Treaster, Michael White |
25 | Amanda Weller | Evolution of digging morphology in subterranean rodents |
| Amanda K. Weller, Jada S. Byrd, Bryan S. McLean | |
26 | Shambadeb Basu | Dietary variation in endemic small cats from Eastern India having evolutionary connections |
|
| Shambadeb Basu, Charles Baer |
27 | Hanna Makowski | Seeing the forest for its trees: intraspecific variation in tree leaf phenology |
| Hanna Makowski; Seosamh Radigan; Ana Carnaval; Andy Reinmann; Meghan Blumstein | |
28 | Alisha Arora | Regulatory Elements of amhy in Sex Determination |
|
| Alisha Arora, Jennifer McCann, Michael White |
29 | Ashlynn Bruder | Survival Strategies of Laboratory and Environmental E. coli in Nutrient-Limiting Conditions |
| Bruder, Ashlynn ; Behringer, Megan | |
30 | Amy Jablonski | Genomic analysis of the Lyme disease vector at a spatial expansion front |
|
| Jablonski, A.; Brinkerhoff, J. |
31 | Brooke Grubb | Every Clade You Take: Untangling Trait Variation in the Faxonius erichsonianus Species Complex |
| Grubb, Brooke; Wheeler, Kit; Mattingly, Hayden | |
32 | Alexa Frain | Evaluating Indigenous Cultivation Methods for Yield of Catawba Corn |
|
| Beckett Ledahl; Alexa Frain; Dr. Susana Wadgymar |
33 | Kelly McCrum | The Effects of Temperature and Soil Microbial Community on Performance of a Southeastern Plant |
| Kelly McCrum; Anny Chung; Jill Anderson | |
34 | Ana Kothandram | Taking the Path of Yeast Resistance: The Correlation between Resistance to Predation and Virulence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae |
|
| Ana Kothandram; William Rice; Zach Ormiston; Luke Ekdahl; Helen Murphy |
35 | Spencer Koury | Impact of hypoxia on meiotic recombination rate in Drosophila melanogaster |
| Spencer Koury, Natalia Rivera-Rincon, Melika Shiran, Laurie Stevison | |
36 | Lev Yampolsky | Aging and rejuvenation in Daphnia at a single-nuclei resolution |
|
| A.C.Pearson & L.Y.Yampolsky |
37 | Alexandra Faur | Regenerating Purples In The Fairy Wrasse Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa |
|
| Alexandra-Iuliana Faur, David M. Parichy |
38 | Alexis Lambert | Sex-Specific Differences of Chromatin Organization During Meiosis in Threespine Sticklebacks |
Alexis Lambert and Michael White | ||
39 | Macie McGraw | Let’s Stick Together: Investigating flocculant phenotypes across 1,000 genomes of S. cerevisiae |
40 | Madison Cassel-Hughes | Understanding plant responses to climate change through historical herbaria records of Boechera stricta |
Madison Cassel-Hughes;Jill Anderson |
