As Coordinator Dr. Holly R. Prendeville is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships, communicating use and availability of climate change tools, coordinating grants and agreements, as well as developing and implementing strategies for producing priority outcomes for the Northwest Climate Hub. Holly has been the Coordinator since 2016. As a Forest Service Research Geneticist, Holly collaborated with other scientists to investigate the efficacy of seed zones developed for bluebunch wheatgrass in the Intermountain West. This work provides guidelines to facilitate restoration using locally adapted material that will be resilient in the face of climate change. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Virginia, Holly investigated how plant reproductive phenology varies among populations across a latitudinal gradient in the eastern US. Holly obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior studying the ecological risks of virus-resistant transgenic squash by examining the effects of virus and the virus-resistant transgene in wild squash.
Featured Work
My past research focused on understanding how the environment and other species affect wild plant populations. I studied wild plants to comprehend the factors that affect how plant populations grow and change traits and life history events over time. I am interested in how microorganisms affect plant populations, the role of maternal effects in trait evolution, and how mating patterns affect trait evolution and maintain diversity in natural populations. I use this information to guide restoration efforts in the Intermountain West.
As a Research Geneticist (post-doc) at the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. To guide post-fire restoration efforts in grasslands in the Interior Northwest, I am investigating the efficacy of seed-zones via a reciprocal transplant experiment with Bluebunch wheatgrass (Psuedoroegneria spicata). This project is in collaboration with J. Brad St. Clair of the Pacific Northwest Research Station and members of the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Boise, ID including Nancy Shaw and Francis Kilkenny.
As a Postdoctoral Research Associate collaborating with Laura F. Galloway in the Department of Biology at the University of Virginia, I focused on the American Bellflower (Campanulastrum americanum) to investigate the role of maternal effects in population adaptation. For my dissertation work, I examined the effects of virus on wild squash (Cucurbita pepo) populations and the ecological effects of transgenic squash (Cucurbita pepo) with virus-resistance. When investigating the effects of virus on wild plant populations, my research found that virus does not always have detrimental effects on population growth rate of wild plants.
