Angela Smilanich
University of Nevada-Reno, NV·Ecology & Evolution
Insects are declining in many regions, and climate change is a major pressure on them. Predicting where species will live as the climate warms is one of ecology's central challenges.
- Fields
Ecology & Evolution
Biology
Earth & Environmental Science
- Topics
climate change
insect decline
butterflies
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2026
What they work on
- Rear caterpillars of five widespread butterfly species from populations across different biomes under temperatures mimicking past, current and future climates, measuring development rate and survival.
- Measure immune response, genetic structure and gene expression in caterpillars raised under different temperatures to learn how populations differ in their capacity to cope with warming.
- Use the physiological and genetic data to build species distribution models that include plasticity and adaptive potential, and predict future butterfly range shifts.
- Validate and refine the range-shift models using butterfly distribution records collected by community (citizen) scientists, producing estimates of forecast uncertainty.
More about the research
The usual tools, called species distribution models, map where a species might live based on climate. However, they rarely account for local differences between populations, interactions with other organisms, or a species' ability to adjust or adapt. This collaborative project, spread across institutions in the U.S. southwest, polar north and temperate east, aims to build those biological mechanisms into forecasts, using butterflies as a well-studied test group.
Why it matters
Insects are ecologically vital and are declining in many regions. Better forecasts of how butterfly ranges will shift under future climates could help conservation managers decide where and how to protect insect biodiversity. Models that include physiology, immunity and adaptive potential could also make climate-response predictions more reliable for other species.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Matthew Troia
University of Texas at San Antonio, TX·Ecology & Evolution·Early-career
Measure acute cold and heat tolerance, acclimation potential, and energy budgets in three tropical and three related temperate freshwater fishes. Use these lab experiments to test whether tropical and temperate species differ in thermal physiology.
William Morris
Duke University, NC·Ecology & Evolution
Build and validate a climate- and fire-driven integral projection model for Venus flytraps, using demographic data from near-factorial manipulations of fire frequency, drought, and warming across longleaf pine savannas.
Stephen Keller
University of Vermont, VT·Ecology & Evolution
Reconstruct about 13,000 years of alpine plant community history at the species level using ancient DNA from lake sediment cores in the Adirondacks, Green and White Mountains, and Katahdin.
The school
University of Nevada-Reno: 11 labs on PI Pages, $194M a year on research, 186 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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