Adaptation to Climate Change: From Gradual Warming to Extreme Events
My research explores how species respond to both gradual temperature increases and sudden climate extremes like heatwaves. I am particularly interested in how these environmental shifts drive adaptation—or maladaptation—over time.
Much of this work has focused on tropical Drosophila as a model to study thermal niche evolution. Using long-term experimental evolution and selection experiments, I've tested how thermal tolerance, performance, preference, and fitness co-evolve under stressful environments. These studies shed light on how behavior and plasticity interact with evolutionary potential, and whether climate extremes leave lasting impacts on adaptive trajectories.
Key questions:
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Can species adapt, or will they fail to adapt, to gradual warming and climate extremes?
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Can climate extremes act as selective events?
Relevant publications:
Amphibian field surveys in the rainforests of Panama.
FLIR thermal images of thermal physiology experiments.
Interacting Stressors: Disease, Urbanization, and Climate
Species do not face climate change in isolation. My research investigates how multiple stressors—including emerging infectious diseases and urbanization—interact with climate change to shape vulnerability and resilience.
As an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, I study how the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) affects amphibian thermal biology and responses to temperature extremes. I also collaborate with the Urban Eco-Evo Network to examine how urbanization alters ecological and evolutionary processes. These projects reveal that interacting stressors can compound physiological limits and reshape adaptive responses—insights that are crucial for forecasting risk and managing biodiversity in an increasingly complex world.
Key questions:
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How do disease and/or urbanization interact with climate change?
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Does disease reduce thermal tolerance or limit adaptive capacity?
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How does urbanization reshape evolutionary responses?
Relevant publications:
- Moreno-García et al. 2025. The effects of urbanization on species interactions.
- Carlen et al. 2025. Legacy effects of religion, politics, and war on urban evolutionary biology.
What makes species resilient?
I am broadly interested in the physiological and evolutionary factors that shape how species cope with environmental change. Ongoing work explores how traits like thermal tolerance respond to pathogen exposure, whether immune priming alters behavior and survival, and how microhabitat use affects risk. These studies help uncover why some individuals and populations are more vulnerable than others—and what traits enable persistence in changing environments.
Key questions:
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What makes some individuals and populations more resilient?
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How do plasticity and evolutionary potential interact?
Relevant publications:
- Cocciardi et al. 2019. Adjustable temperature array for characterizing ecological and evolutionary effects on thermal physiology.
Field work in the Daintree rainforest.
Panama rocket frog
(Colostethus panamansis), carrying tadpoles.
Northern velvet gecko
(Oedura castelnaui)
Applied Evolutionary Ecology for Conservation
At its core, my research is motivated by the need to translate theory into action. I aim to use evolutionary and physiological principles to support biodiversity conservation in the face of climate change.
My applied work spans endangered species research, assisted reproductive technologies for amphibian conservation, and predictive modeling tools. I am particularly interested in building frameworks that integrate trait variation, physiology, and evolutionary potential to predict species responses to climate change.
Key questions:
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How can species physiology be incorporated into conservation planning?
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How do we apply evolutionary principles into conservation decisions?
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Can immune priming or other tools enhance resilience in threatened populations?
Relevant publications:
- Cocciardi et al. 2024. The value of long-term ecological research for evolutionary insights.