Biological Sciences

Profile

Research Interests

• Evolution and ecology of plant-insect interactions, with emphasis on pollination ecology and insect herbivory. Long-term (macroevolutionary) perspectives on plant-insect (co-)evolution, based on molecular-phylogenetic studies of the evolution of chemical and floral traits and ecological relationships.
• Quantitative genetics and development of floral traits involved in attracting, rewarding, and manipulating pollinators; correlated evolution, constraint, and evolvability of floral traits.
• Community ecology, including biotic interactions and effects of local variation in microclimate on the composition and function of plant and insect communities; latitudinal patterns in beta-diversity (species turnover across microhabitats).
• Biogeography: molecular phylogeography and ecology of Beringian plants and insects.
• Evolution of plant mating systems and correlated floral traits, with current emphasis on Collinsia and Tonella (Plantaginaceae).
• Tropical conservation biology, biological consequences of forest fragmentation.

Teaching Interests

• Evolutionary biology
• Plant and insect ecology
• Community ecology
• Modern methods in comparative biology
• Tropical ecology
• Biogeography
• Biodiversity

Recent Publications

More recent publications

Publications before 2008

• Lankinen, Å. and W. S. Armbruster. 2007. Pollen competition reduces inbreeding depression in Collinsia heterophylla (Plantaginaceae). J. Evolutionary Biology 20: 737-749.
• Armbruster, W.S., D. Rae, and M. E. Edwards. 2007. Topographic complexity and biotic response to high-latitude climate change: Variance is as important as the mean. Pp. 105-122 in, J. B. Ørbæk et al. (eds.), Arctic-Alpine Ecosystems and People in a Changing Environment. Springer Verlag.
• Armbruster, W. S. 2006. Evolutionary and ecological perspectives on specialization: from the arctic to the tropics. Pp. 260-282 in, N. Waser and J. Ollerton (eds.), Plant-Pollinator Interactions: From Specialization to Generalization, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
• Armbruster, W.S., R. Pérez-Barrales, J. Arroyo, M. E. Edwards, and P. Vargas. 2006. Three-dimensional reciprocity of floral morphs in wild flax (Linum suffruticosum): A new twist on heterostyly. New Phytologist 171: 581-590.
• Parliuessen, I., G.A. Olsson, and W.S. Armbruster. 2006. Factors limiting the survival of native tree seedlings used in conservation efforts at the edges of forest fragments in upland Madagascar. Restoration Ecology 14: 196-203.
• Rae, D.A, W.S. Armbruster, M.E. Edwards, and M. Svengård-Barre. 2006. Influence of microclimate and species interactions on the composition of plant and invertebrate communities in alpine northern Norway. Acta Oecologica 29: 266-282.
• Pélabon C, T.F. Hansen, M.L. Carlson, and W.S. Armbruster. 2006. Patterns of asymmetry in the twining vine Dalechampia scandens (Euphorbiaceae): ontogenetic and hierarchical perspectives. New Phytologist 170: 65-74.
• Armbruster, W. S., L. Antonsen, and C. Pélabon. 2005. Phenotypic selection on Dalechampia blossoms: honest signaling affects pollination success. Ecology 86: 3323-3333.
• Pélabon, C., M. L. Carlson, T. F. Hansen, and W. S. Armbruster. 2005. Effects of crossing distance on offspring fitness and developmental stability in Dalechampia scandens (Euphorbiaceae). American J. Botany 92: 842-851.
• Armbruster, W. S., and D. G. Rogers. 2004. Does pollen competition reduce the cost of inbreeding? American J. Botany 91: 1939-1943.
• Fenster, C. B., W. S. Armbruster, P. Wilson, M. R. Dudash, and J. T. Thomson. 2004. Pollination syndromes and floral specialization. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 35: 375-403.
• Pélabon, C., M. L. Carlson, T. F. Hansen, and W. S. Armbruster. 2004. Variational and genetic properties of developmental stability in Dalechampia scandens. Evolution 58: 504-514.
• Pélabon C., T. F. Hansen, M. L. Carlson, N. G. Yoccoz, and W. S. Armbruster. 2004. Consequences of inter-population crosses on developmental stability and canalization of floral traits in Dalechampia scandens (Euphorbiaceae). J. Evolutionary Biology 17: 19-32.
• Wilson, P. M. C. Castellanos, J. N. Hogue, J. D. Thomson, and W. S. Armbruster. 2004. A multivariate search for pollination syndromes among penstemons. Oikos 104: 345-361.
• Armbruster, W. S., C. Pélabon, T. F. Hansen, and C. P. H. Mulder. 2004. Floral integration and modularity: Distinguishing complex adaptations from genetic constraints. Pp. 23-49 in, M. Pigliucci and K. A. Preston (eds.), The Evolutionary Biology of Complex Phenotypes, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
• Hansen, T. F., C. Pélabon, W. S. Armbruster, and M. L. Carlson. 2003. Evolvability and genetic constraint in Dalechampia blossoms: Components of variance and measures of evolvability. J. Evolutionary Biology 16: 754-766.
• Hansen, T. F., W. S. Armbruster, M. L. Carlson, and C. Pélabon. 2003. Evolvability and genetic constraint in Dalechampia blossoms: Genetic correlations and conditional evolvability. J. Experimental Zoology. Molecular and Developmental Evolution 296B: 23-39.
• Ratsirarson, J., M. Edwards, G. Olsson, S. Armbruster, I. Pareliussen, B. Reau. 2003. Forest restoration and biodiversity conservation in the central highlands: the case of the Réserve Spéciale d'Ambohitantely. Pp. 1476-1480 in, S.J. Goodman and J. Benstead (eds.), The Natural History of Madagascar, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.
• Armbruster, W. S. and B. G. Baldwin. 2003. Pollination and evolution of euphorb vines in Madagascar. Pp. 391-393 in, S. Goodman and J. Benstead (eds.), The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.
• Armbruster, W. S., E. M. Debevec, and M. F. Willson. 2002. The evolution of syncarpy in angiosperms: theoretical and phylogenetic analyses of the effects of carpel fusion on offspring quantity and quality. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 15: 657-672.
• Armbruster, W. S. 2002. Can indirect selection and genetic context contribute to trait diversification? A transition-probability study of blossom-color evolution in two genera. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 15: 468-486
• Armbruster, W. S., C. P. H. Mulder, B. G. Baldwin, S. Kalisz, B. Wessa, and H. Nute. 2002. Comparative analysis of late floral development and mating-system evolution in tribe Collinsieae (Scrophulariaceae, s.l.). Amer. J. Botany 89: 37-49.
• Armbruster, W. S. 2001. Evolution of floral form: Electrostatic forces, pollination, and adaptive compromise. New Phytologist 152: 181-183.
• Hansen, T., W. S. Armbruster, and L. Antonsen. 2000. Comparative analysis of character displacement and spatial adaptations as illustrated by the evolution of Dalechampia blossoms. American Naturalist 156: S17-S34.
• Armbruster, W. S., C. B. Fenster, and M. R. Dudash. 2000. Pollination 'principles' revisited: Specialization, pollination syndromes, and the evolution of flowers. Det Norske Videnskapsacademi I. Matematisk Naturvidenskapelige Klasse Skrifter, Ny Serie 39: 139-148. ? Bishop, J. A., and W. S. Armbruster. 1999. The relationship between body size and thermoregulatory ability in bees of interior Alaska. Functional Ecology 13: 711-724.
• Armbruster, W. S., V. S. Di Stilio, J. D. Tuxill, T. C. Flores, and J. L. Velasquez Runk. 1999. Covariance and decoupling of floral and vegetative traits in nine neotropical plants: A re-evaluation of Berg's correlation-pleiades concept. American J. Botany 86: 39-55.
• Armbruster, W. S., and B. G. Baldwin. 1998. Switch from specialized to generalized pollination. Nature 394: 632.
• Armbruster, W. S. 1997. Exaptations link the evolution of plant-herbivore and plant-pollinator interactions: a phylogenetic inquiry. Ecology 78:1661-1674.

Professional Service and Editorial Boards

• AoB PLANTS (2013-present)
• Proceeding of the Royal Society, B (Biological  Sciences). (2011-present)
• Editorial Board, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research (2007-present)
• Editorial Board, Journal of Evolutionary Biology (2001-2004)
• Editor, Ecology and Ecological Monographs (1996-1999)
• Ecology Panel, National Science Foundation, USA (2002)

Field Activities

Alaska, California, Yukon Territory, Russian Far East, Norway, Svalbard, Scotland, Western Australia, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, French Guiana, Suriname, Bolivia, Madagascar, South Africa, Gabon, Tanzania, Thailand.