SHWETA BASNETT
Hello and Welcome!
I am an Evolutionary Biologist from the Indian Himalayan Region. I received my Ph.D. in 2019 from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment. My thesis focused on the influence of pollinators, climate, and evolutionary history on the reproductive and leafing phenology of the Himalayan Rhododendron. In Jan 2022, I joined Espíndola lab at the University of Maryland as a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow, and here my goal is to understand how floral traits, pollinators, and climate interact and influence the floral evolution of one of the most culturally and economically important flowering plant genus Rhododendron.
KEYWORDS: ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF PLANT REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM, MACROEVOLUTION, PLANT-POLLINATOR INTERACTIONS, PLANT PHENOLOGY, CLIMATE CHANGE
APPROACHES: ECOLOGICAL, GEOSPATIAL, PHYLOGENETIC