Adapting to a changing world: mothers as drivers of evolutionary change

Biological diversity is declining more rapidly than ever before due to human impact on the environment. The extent of our impending biodiversity crisis will be determined by the ability and speed of organisms to adapt to the extreme rate of environmental change. I will examine the role of mothers in modifying and pre-programming their progeny to better match the environment in which they will be born, develop and live. By focusing on the long-term effects throughout an individual's life, and across multiple generations, I will determine the extent to which mothers drive adaptive evolutionary change. I will then use these data to generate predictive models of how organisms will adapt to the current pace and scale of environmental change.