Julia G. Harenčár

PhD Candidate | Kay Lab | Plant Evolution | University of California, Santa Cruz

I am an evolutionary biologist passionate about combining ecology with genomics to understand plant evolution. Plants are the dominant kingdom by biomass, definers of ecosystems, nourishers of many, and excellent for studying big evolutionary questions. What is the genetic basis of divergent adaptation? How does gene flow between species - introgression - influence evolution? How can basic evolutionary research inform invasive plant management and rare plant conservation? These are the questions I wake up excited to study and fall asleep pondering.