Jennifer Funk's lab

Spring 2025

Congratulations to Brooke Wainwright for winning the Neal Van Alfen and James MacDonald Graduate Student award for excellence in research, mentorship, and environmental outreach!

Fall 2024

Welcome to Sarah Perry, new Junior Specialist in the Funk lab
Welcome to Bruna Campos, a visiting postdoc from Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais, São Paulo, Brazil

Summer 2024

New paper on how to advance trait-based ecological restoration
Congratulations to Elise Elwood for completing her PhD research entitled "Global change factors interact with functional traits to influence seed banks and recruitment in grassland communities"

Spring 2024

Welcome to Sofia Green, new Junior Specialist in the Funk lab
New paper on how climate and evolutionary history drive trait variation among Neotropical understory monocots

Winter 2024

New paper on how global growth strategy frameworks predict drought tolerance in California grassland

Fall 2023

Welcome Liz Becker and John McNamara, visiting PhD students in the JDPE program with San Diego State University

Summer 2023

Congratulations to Laurel Sebastian for completing her MS research examining how plant functional diversity influences soil carbon
Two new papers applying community assembly theory to ecological restoration (Funk, Nguyen)
New paper on the evolution of the 'ideal weed' concept.

Spring 2023

Congratulations to undergraduate researcher Tim Chen for receiving the John Jachetta Undergraduate Research Award from the Weed Science Society of America.
New paper exploring physiological and transcriptomic responses to drought in California sagebrush.

Winter 2023

Congratulations to Laurel Sebastian for receiving the Garden Club of America Fellowship in Ecological Restoration.
Four papers published on nitrogen fixation in temperate and tropical systems (Jager, Kirby, Menge, Schmidt).

Fall 2022

Congratulations to Brooke Wainwright for receiving the Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant.
Welcome to Anjum Gujral, who joins the lab as a PhD student in the Population Biology graduate group.

Summer 2022

Spring 2022

Congratulations to Katherine Brafford, recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!
Congratulations to Katherine Brafford, Laurel Sebastian, and Brooke Wainwright for receiving awards from the Oren Pollack Memorial Fund, the Davis Botanical Society, and the California Native Grasslands Association!

Fall 2021

New paper on above and belowground trait coordination by former Funk lab postdoc Eleinis Avila Lovera.
The Funk lab is thrilled to welcome three new graduate students. Welcome Brooke Wainwright, Laurel Sebastian, and Rowan Peterson!
Welcome to Kami Schneider, the Funks lab's new Junior Specialist.

Summer 2021

New paper discusses the importance of interacting ecological filters in restoration.
New paper out in PNAS demonstrates how trait-environment interactions influence biodiversity.
Check out Katherine's first published article on rapid evolution of native plant populations.

Spring 2021

Jen quoted in article "'Winners and Losers - Which plants will adapt to climate change?"
New paper on intraspecific trait variation in California grasses.
Jen receives inaugural Barbara D. Webster Scholar award.

Winter 2021

New issue on intraspecific trait variation in Annals of Botany. Check out this review led by Andrea Westerband.
New paper in Ecology exploring how traits are differentially linked to plant performance in annual and perennial species across a water gradient.

Fall 2020

New paper by former Funk lab postdoc Shana Welles on traits and drought strategies in California wild radish.
New paper on resource-use strategies in native and invasive Mediterranean plants.
Katherine Brafford joins the lab as a Ph.D. student in Ecology and Anca Barcu joins as a masters student in Horticulture and Agronomy. Welcome Katherine and Anca!

Summer 2020

Jen joins the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis!
New paper on intraspecific trait variation in response to water availability and plant age.
New paper by former Funk lab all-star Julie Larson on ecological strategies in baby plants.
New paper on how invasion ecologists can direct research to more effectively address management concerns.
New paper by former Funk lab undergrad Marc Rosenfield linking leaf and litter traits to rates of decomposition.
Jen receives Ecological Society of America's Eugene P. Odum Award for Excellence in Ecology Education.