Welcome to my website! My Ph.D. research focuses on understanding the demographic pathways and genetic consequences of range expansion in plants. I am interested in expanding on current evolutionary theory that predicts negative fitness consequences on the range edge (e.g., mutation accumulation, decreased genetic variation) as a result of range expansion by developing new theoretical models and conducting empirical investigations in nature along contrasting spatiotemporal scales (e.g., latitudinal and elevational gradients). Specifically, I want to identify when and where we would expect population expansion to impact spatial patterns in mating-system and long-term persistence of edge plant populations in nature, which has implications for population-level responses to climate change.
Email: mackenzie [dot] urq [at] gmail [dot] com | Twitter: @macurqcron | GitHub: @macurqcron