Stacey Dewitt Smith

My lab studies trait evolution, and we are particularly interested in repeated origins of similar traits in different lineages. We seek to understand the relative contributions of genetic accessibility and adaptive evolution to these patterns of convergent evolution. We primarily use flower color as a model system for studying the mechanisms of trait evolution although members of the lab are delving into the evolutionary origins of many other fascinating traits in clades across the tree of life (e.g. the origins of self-compatibility in tomatillos, of pathogenicity in yeasts, of structural color in fruits, of carnivory in plants, of inflated fruits in fossil plants, etc.).